The Road Ahead
by TheGreatJ12
Summary: Ash has always been a curious kid, but what will happen when he is actually taught properly and trains his pokémon seriously. With his trusty starter, he aims to be the best ever. Follow Ash on The Road Ahead.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my first fanfiction so the writing may be choppy and whatnot. Try not to be to harsh on me lol. To get to the important stuff, I changed the age of starting trainers from 10 to 15. I don't think that 10 year olds should be allowed to go into the wild and train beast that can kill someone with ease. In this story Ash will be smart and he will train. I don't plan on making Ash some super OP trainer because he will definitely still take some L's. I already have six Pokémon planned out for him, I plan on having about four or five more. After reading some of the different docs out there I decided to add different size classes. Bigger doesn't always mean stronger, remember that. But anyways, I don't own Pokémon or anything. I now present The Road Ahead.**

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It's night time in the quiet little place of Pallet Town. A 7 year old boy was in his second story room watching television with an unimaginable amount of 7-year-olds name is Ashton Red Ketchum, or formally known as Ash by everyone who knows him. Ash has dreamed of being a Pokémon master ever since he found out about Pokémon at a very young age. Ash has always been a sweet little boy with decent manners, except at the table. He scarfs food down messily without thinking about table manners. Ash is kind of tall for a 7-year-old. He stands at around 5'0. Ash has a head of messy raven-colored hair that stops just above his shoulders. Some would say his most distinguishing quality would be his piercing red eyes.

"Look at these Pokémon go!" The TV announcer exclaimed excitedly. Ash is watching a Pokémon league battle. The Pokémon League happens once every year.

"And Gengar strikes Onix with its hypnosis attack!" The announcer announces. "Onix quick use Iron Tail before Gengar can get away." The Onix trainer shouted to the rock snake. The Onix roared at his trainers command and immediately coated its rocky tail in a silver energy.

However the Gengars' trainer wasn't going to let it happen. "Gengar into the shadows and wait for my command!" The Gengars trainer countered.

"Ashton Red Ketchum, why are you still awake? You need to get some sleep so you won't be tired while we are at Professor Oak's ranch tomorrow." Said Ash's mother Delia Ketchum. "Aww mom can't I finish watching this battle? Pleeeeeeease!" Ash begged with his best puppy dog eyes. Delia sighed "After this battle you're going to sleep." "Thank you mom, you're the best!" Ash said as he ran up to his mother and gave her a kiss goodnight. As promised Ash watched the rest of the match and went to bed.

Ash woke up the next morning and went to the bathroom to do his morning routine of using the restroom and brushing his teeth. As soon as Ash came out the bathroom the aroma of breakfast hit his nose. Ash smelled the food and bolted down stairs straight into the kitchen. "Good morning Ashy-dear, I hope you're hungry I made eggs, bacon, hash browns, and oatmeal." "Everything you make is amazing mom!" Ash praised. Delia giggles, "Thank you Ashy, now eat your food while it's still hot. When your done eating we are going to Professor Oak's to visit." "Can I play with the Pokémon at the ranch?" Ash asked with a little bit of hope in his voice.

"You'll have to ask Professor Oak when we get there sweetie." Delia answered sweetly. Ash then gulped down his food in excitement and almost chocked once or twice in the process. When Ash finished getting dressed he ran upstairs to change out of his pajamas and into an outfit that consisted of blue denim shorts, a black T-shirt, and black crew socks with black and white tennis shoes. When Ash finished getting ready he ran downstairs to meet his already dressed mother. Delia wore a light purple skirt that stopped just above her knees, along with a white blouse and a pink sweater over the blouse. We will only be at Professor Oak's ranch for a little while. I have to get to the restaurant soon. Delia runs a successful restaurant right next to the Ketchum residence.

The Ketchum's left their house and began their 10 minute walk to Professor Oak's ranch. They finally get to the steps in front of the door. Ash excitedly rings the doorbell and steps back to wait for someone to answer the door. About 30 seconds after they rang the doorbell they heard a faint voice come from the other side of the door. "I'm coming." The voice said. The door opened and a young girl around the age of 15 opened the door.

The girl had honey blonde hair that was held back with a green headband. She had a slender yet beautiful face, her emerald eyes complimented her face. She wore a green turtleneck and a white lab coat on top of the turtleneck. She had black slim fit jeans with black slip on shoes.

"Delia and Ash! Please come in, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Daisy asked sweetly. "I wanted to take Ashy to visit and was wondering if your grandfather would allow him to play with some of the Pokémon in the ranch."

"It shouldn't be a problem. Let me go find grandpa for you, make yourself at home while I look for him." Daisy told the two. Daisy left to find the elderly Professor while Delia and Ash sat down on the couch. The two waited for about 5 minutes before they heard two sets of footsteps coming from the hallway. "Ah Delia and Ash, how are you?" Asked the elderly Professor. Professor Oak was an elderly man at the age of 62. Professor Oak's has silver hair with small streaks of brown hair. He has a long white coat, underneath the coat is a Red polo shirt tucked inside of khaki pants. He also wears brown colored shoes.

"We are fine Samuel, we came by wondering if Ashy here could play with some of the Pokémon?"

" Of course he can, it's always a pleasure having Ash here, he is always a great help with feeding the

Pokémon and he seems to get along with almost every Pokémon here."

Professor Oak crouched down so he could be at eye level with Ash. "Would you like to help Daisy and I feed the Pokémon this morning? That's if it's alright with Delia." Ash's eyes sparkled with the opportunity to interact with all of the Pokémon. Ash turned to look at his mother with a hopeful look in his eyes. Delia giggled at her child's antics and responded with a smile "I don't see why not Samuel! Just please make sure he is safe."

"Of course my dear, besides I don't think Dragonite would let anything happen to him." Ever since Professor Oak's Dragonite and Ash met they've always had a close bond. Whenever Ash would come over to the ranch Dragonite would fly down from the mountains and to play with Ash despite its lazy nature. "Thank you mom! You're the best!" Ash excitedly thanked his mother while giving her the tightest hug he could muster. Ash let go and turned to the smiling Professor and his granddaughter.

"I'll go grab the food grandpa, I'll be right back." Daisy said. "Thank you dear" said the Professor. "We will go grab the Pokémon's food bowls" the Professor told his granddaughter. As soon as Ash and the Professor stepped outside they heard the sound of something flying. They looked to the sky and saw that it was Dragonite.

Dragonite stood at a massive nine feet tall. He is what scientist call a large sized Pokémon. ( **A/N There are different classes of Pokémon sizes: Tiny, Small, Normal, Large, Royal**.) Dragonite was the second strongest Pokémon on Professor Oak's team from his time as Kanto's champion. The Professor reigned as champion for 15 years before resigning as champion and giving his title of champion to Lance. While Oak was champion he was never beaten. With his ruthless yet calculated battle style nobody ever beat him. His opponents never truly stood a chance, the closest anyone ever came to beating him was making Oak send out his Arcanine which was the Pokémon he always sent out third.

Dragonite came flying towards the group with something in his hands.

"Well well look who decided to make an appearance." The Professor said with a smirk. The dragon landed with a soft thud and a bit of dust was kicked up. The two could finally see what was in the dragons hands. The dragon nodded at the young boy completely ignoring his trainer. Professor Oak deadpanned at the fact that his own Pokémon completely ignored his presence. "Hello to you too Dragonite." The Professor said with a eye roll. The dragon looked at the elderly Professor and smirked and nodded his head at his trainer. "Hi Dragonite! My mom is letting me feed the Pokémon here while she goes to work at the restaurant." Ash said with a smile on his face. Dragonite grunted at the sound of doing work.

"Still as lazy as ever I see." Professor Oak sighed. Dragonite's stomach rumbles deeply. "I don't suppose you're hungry are you?" Asked Ash. Dragonite's eyes lit up and he nodded his head excitedly at the thought of food. The Professor could only shake his head at the dragon.

Professor Oak stepped closer the dragon and took a closer look at what his Dragonite was holding in his hands. "Is this what I think this is pal?" Asked Professor Oak. Dragonite looked at the Professor seriously and nodded his head. Dragonite handed Professor Oak the egg he was holding. "You know out of everyone on the team I have to say I didn't expect you to end up with an egg" Professor said to Dragonite. Dragonite looked annoyed with his trainer but he was proud nonetheless. "Don't worry pal, I'll make sure that they are safe. I'll personally make sure nothing happens to it" Professor Oak said with a smile. The Dragonite smiled at his trainer and gave him a nod of appreciation.

After the egg surprise Daisy came outside with the Pokémon food and they began to feed all of the Pokémon of the ranch. While they were feeding the Pokémon ash got curious and started to ask the professor questions about why some Pokémon live in certain areas and just general questions about Pokémon. Ash was clearly interested in the way Pokémon lived and how they interacted with each other. Professor Oak answered all the questions Ash threw at him with ease, but he answered him in such a way that a seven-year-old would understand. While Ash was asking questions, Professor Oak was beginning to have an interesting idea. The Professor knew how Ash wanted to be a Pokémon trainer when he became of age, so when his mother shows up to pick him up they will have a little 'talk'.

When the two finished feeding all of the Pokémon Ash went off the play with the Pokémon of the ranch. Professor Oak stood outside his lab door where Dragonite was currently laying on his side trying to take a nap. "You feel it too don't you pal" Professor Oak asked his Dragonite while looking at Ash. The giant dragon opened one of his eyes and looked at the Professor and nodded his head. "He is going to be special, I can feel it." Dragonite nodded his head at his trainers sentence and towards the boy. Dragonite sat up and looked at the egg that was in the incubator through the laboratory window and then back at Ash. Professor Oak noticed Dragonites gaze and puts the pieces together. "Are you thinking about giving Ash your child when it hatches?" Questioned the Professor. Dragonite looked at the Professor and showed all of his razor sharp teeth and a big grin. The two then turned to look at the young boy running and playing with a pack of Growlithe. "For some unknown reason he draws in everyone he meets." Dragonite grunted a chuckle in agreement. "I have no doubt in my mind that he will take great care in raising your child pal." Professor Oak turned to look at his Pokémon with a sincere look in his eyes. Dragonite looked at his trainer and nodded his head in agreement.

Later that day Delia came to pick up her son. As soon as she came into the lab Ash ran up to her and gave her a hug. "Hi Ashy! Did you have fun with Professor Oak and all of the Pokémon?""Yes I did mom!" It was then that Professor Oak walked around the corner of his lab. "Ah Delia May I talk to you for a second?" Asks the Professor. "Is there something wrong Samuel?" Asks a concerned Delia. "Oh no" Oak clarifies, "I actually want to talk about Ash for a second." Delia looked at Ash and gave him a look that said 'I'll be right back.' Delia then followed Professor Oak into the back room in his lab. When they got into the room Professor Oak closed the door behind them so they weren't overheard. Professor Oak looked at Delia and explained. "First to clarify everything, Ash hasn't done anything wrong." Delia let out a breath she wasn't aware that she was holding. "Ok then what do you want to talk about?" Asked Delia. "As you know Ash want to be a Pokémon trainer when he becomes of age." Delia nods her head signaling the professor to continue. "Well today while we were feeding the Pokémon I noticed that Ash naturally draws in Pokémon and while we were feeding the Pokémon he began to take interest in knowing Pokémon types, what they like to eat, and a number of other things every good trainer should know. The point I am trying to make is that I would like to teach Ash about Pokémon so he can be as prepared as possible for his journey." Oak explained. Delia thought about it for a second then began to smile. "Thank you Samuel! I'm sure Ash would love this opportunity. I can't wait to tell him!"

Delia excitedly left the room to tell her son. Professor Oak smiled and shook his head. The mother and son were more alike then he realized.

"Ashy! I have good news!" Delia said excitedly. Ash looked towards his mother in curiosity. "Samuel wants to teach you about Pokémon so you can be prepared for his journey!" Ash's eyes went wide and a smile stretched from ear to ear. "YOU MEAN IT! I'M GOING TO BE THE BEST POKÉMON MASTER EVER!" Ash screamed at the top of his lungs. Delia flinched at her sons loud voice but smiled at her sons excited outburst. Professor came into view and smiled. "Now lad I would like to start teaching you tomorrow if that's ok with your mother of course" Ash looked at Delia with pleading eyes. Delia smiled and nodded her head toward Ash. Ash jumped for joy before he ran and hugged both his mom and Professor Oak. "Then i hope you show up tomorrow ready to learn my boy!"

-Timeskip- (8 years)

Ash woke up up bright and early ready to start his journey to become the best. He felt something on the bed toward his feet and a teal colored dragon stretched lazily and then made eye contact with Ash. "Hey buddy! Today's the day. Are you ready for this?" said Ash with a determined fire in his eyes. The Dratini nodded his head with the same excitement as his friend. The two got out of bed and stretched their muscles. The two left Ash's room and went to the bathroom so Ash could brush his teeth and wash his face.

After Ash completed his morning hygienics, he got dressed in black running shorts, a red workout shirt, black ankle socks and black and red two boys the made their way outside to do their morning training. Their training included running for speed and stamina, move training for Dratini, strength training, and evasion training. As the two were training, Ash glanced at Dratini and began to reminisce on the day Dratini hatched.

-Flashback- (2 year ago)

Ash was at the lab studying with Professor Oak as he had been the past year. They were outside feeding the Pokémon with the Professor when they felt a tremor. Ash and the Professor looked at each other and immediately sighed. They already knew what this tremor was, some idiot of a trainer caught 30 Tauros and they always leave all 30 of them at the ranch. 'Some Pokémon must have startled them' thought Ash.

Oak took a deep breath in and made a sharp loud whistle. Within moments they heard something running towards the group. They turned to see a good sized Arcanine running towards them. No matter how many times Ash saw the canine he always got an excited look in his eyes. After the first time Ash saw the canine he immediately knew that he had to have one on his future team.

The canine finally stopped in front of the elderly man. "Hey pal, the tauros are running wild again, can you help us out?" Asked the Professor. Arcanine gave an affirmative bark and ran off to herd the bulls.

While Arcanine was herding the Tauros a single Tauros separated from the group and started heading towards the lab. Ash was first to act on the bull running towards the lab to attempt to stop the bull. "STOOOP!" Screamed Ash towards the charging bull. The yell fell on deaf ears as the bull continued charging towards the lab. The Tauros was about to run into the wall when he suddenly stopped and was encased in a blue glow and began to float. 20 seconds later Ash caught up to the Tauros, another 15 seconds later Professor oak caught up. "Go ahead and send him to the rest of his herd." Said the Professor to seemingly nobody. Ash looked at the Professor in a confused manner. The Professor looked at the boy and saw the question in his eyes. "I was asking Alakazam to return the Tauros back to his herd.

Ash satisfied with the Professors answer. Suddenly they heard a beeping noise come from the lab. The both knew that it had to be the egg as it had been showing signs that it would hatch soon for the past two weeks. They all ran to where the incubator was and saw the flashing egg. "Alakazam call for Dragonite, his egg is hatching" the Professor felt an affirmative in his head. They group all heard a monstrous roar and a sonic boom. Seconds later they heard a loud thud outside. Ash ran to open the door for Dragonite. Dragonite came into the room and nodded his head at Ash and went to where everyone else was. Dragonite and Ash walked forward so that they would be the first thing that the egg saw. They watched the egg flash white for another minute before the egg began to glow a blinding white, the light was so bright everyone in the room had to look away. The egg then began to crack all over. Once the light died down a piece of egg broke off of the egg. More and more pieces broke off until eventually a teal colored Dratini popped his head out of the egg and looked around. His eyes finally landed on Dragonite. The Dragonite looked at his son with such pride it almost brought tears to his eye. The two stared at each other before the newborn Dratini bowed his head in respect of the alpha dragon. Dragonite and Dratini conversed for a minute and eventually Dragonite made a soft bellow and motioned for Ash to come closer. Ash picked up on the motion and walked up to Dratini. Dratini turned his head and stared at Ash in judgment. "Ash be still, he is trying to judge if you are worthy to be his trainer. Pseudo-legendaries are extremely prideful Pokémon and if they feel that you aren't worthy then they won't listen to you whatsoever." Said Professor Oak. Ash nodded his head at the professors statement. Dratini eyed Ash for 30 seconds before putting a smile on his face and coiled around Ash's body and placing his head on his shoulder.

The Professor began to observe the newborn Pokémon with interest. "Your son seems to be very healthy. Judging from his current length he should be quite large by the time he is fully evolved." said Professor with interest. Dragonite looked at his son and could sense a strong power deep inside of his son. Dragonite leaned down to his sons eye level. The Dratini rose his head from Ash's shoulder so he could look into his father's eyes. The two had a silent conversation for about two minutes. "What do you think they are doing Professor?" Asked Ash. "My boy I don't know." Answered the Professor.

After awhile the Dratini bowed his head to show respect to the stronger dragon that was his father.

When the day was over Professor and Dragonite gave the 'ok' to take Dratini home with him.

-Flashback ends-

Since that day the two pretty much became inseparable, Ash and Dratini did everything together. They ate together, played together, trained together, studied together, and like any pair of bestfriends they also argued.

Ash stood at 5'10 and had a rather athletic build from working with the Pokémon at the lab and from training. Ash's hair had grown just below his shoulder blades, he lets his hair fall freely down his back. Although it was still very messy it was at least slightly easier to control. Dratini had grown from birth and was now 6 1/2 feet long. The dragon weighed about 30 pounds.

After The two finished their morning training they made their way back to the house so they could wash up. When the two walked in the house they were welcomed with the sight of Delia making the two breakfast. "Hey boys, breakfast is almost ready. Go shower and by the time you're done breakfast will be ready." The boys nodded and went upstairs. Ash stripped down to his boxers and threw his dirty workout clothes into his dirty clothes hamper for the last time for a long time. He grabbed his traveling clothes that his mom bought for him. Ash then went to take his last shower in his bathroom for a long time. After ash got out of the shower he put on his new traveling clothes. He wore a white t-shirt that showed Ash's well toned body, a black button up jacket that he left unbuttoned, slim fit denim jeans, black crew socks, black and white shoes, and finally his favorite hat. After Ash was dressed and ready for breakfast he and Dratini headed down stairs in which they were met with a hypnotizing aroma of breakfast. Delia looked towards the two and smiled. "The food is finished! Go ahead and have a seat and I'll plate the food."

Ash quickly sat at the table and placed Dratini next to him in front of a empty Pokémon bowl. Delia gave Dratini some Pokémon food and the dragon immediately began to demolish his food. Dratini quickly learned that Delia was an amazing cook when he first came home with Ash.

Delia then gave Ash a plate that had two waffles, eggs, and some sausage. Delia then sat down and began to eat her breakfast. Ash started to demolish his food with vigor. Delia looked at her son and saw how he was eating. Delia then gave a dangerous glare at Ash, "Boys what have I told you about table manners." Ash and Dratini both gulped the food that was in their mouths and shrank back. "Sorry" Ash uttered in fright. His mother was one of the sweetest people you could ever meet but when she got pissed off she was scarier than an angry Hydreigon.

Ash and Dratini immediately slowed down and began eating properly. Eventually everyone finished eating and they sat there in silence. They all know that Ash and Dratini would be leaving for their journey today. Delia then broke the silence. "Are you ready for your journey?" "Yea, I triple checked last night to make sure I have everything that I would need."

"That's good sweetie, you should hurry along so you aren't late to see Professor Oak." Said Delia. Ash looked at his mother for a second before smiling and nodding. Dratini then coiled around Ash's body and finally placed his head on Ash's shoulder. The boy then got up and left to the professor's lab.

"Can you believe that we are about to leave on a journey bud?" Ash asked rhetorically. Dratini shook his head then out his head on Ash's shoulder In an attempt to take a nap. Ash just rolled his eyes at his best friends antics. "You've always been a lazy little dragon haven't you" Ash laughed.

As they approached the professor's lab they saw a crowd outside with a red convertible filled with cheerleaders.

Ash made his way through the crowd to see Gary Oak walking down the steps. As Gary got to the last few steps he and Ash made eye contact and froze. Gary then put an arrogant smile on his face, he knew Ash hated when he made this face. "Well well well, look who finally decided to show up. Unfortunately for you I got the best starter." Gary said arrogantly. Ash and Dratini made an attempt to ignore the boy and began to make their way past Gary. Ash knew better than to let Gary get under his skin. Ash was halfway up the stairs when he heard something that made his blood boil. "You and your pathetic little dragon will always be second rate."

Ash was fine with Gary insulting him, but when he insulted his friends he tended to go a bit overboard. As Ash turned around to do something he heard a voice behind him. "Now Gary that's enough! Just because you are my grandson does not mean you can go around acting however you want to anyone." Professor Oak said sternly. Gary grit his teeth at his grandfather's words and turned away. Gary hopped into the passenger seat of the red convertible with all the cheerleaders and drove off.

Professor Oak sighed, "That grandson of mine is incredibly smart but he lets the fact that he is my grandson get to his head." The Professor looked down to Ash and gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about his behavior Ash."

"Don't worry about it Professor, let's just go inside." Said Ash. The two walked inside and headed towards the back of the lab. Professor Oak turned to Ash, "According to league policy I have to give you a Pokédex and 10 pokéballs." The Professor turned around and handed him a Black Pokédex with a white trim. He then handed Ash 10 standard pokéballs. "I actually have something else to give you, let me grab it." The Professor said as he left the room. Ash turned to Dratini and asked "What do you think he is giving us?" Dratini tilted his head and made a confused cry telling his trainer that he didn't know either.

The two heard footsteps and looked to see the professor walking back with a small box in his hands. "This is a Transversal Anti-weight Box, or TAB for short. This box allows you to store a vast amount of things into it without weighing a thing." Oak explained. Oak turned to his couch and pressed a button on it and a laser shot towards the couch and it suddenly got sucked into the box as if a Pokémon were being recalled into their pokéball. Ash and Dratini's eyes widened in shock as the couch was now missing. "What just happened Professor?"

"I simply stored the couch into the TAB box, now if I press this button, scroll to where the couch icon is and click on it, the couch will it will reappear wherever I wish." Oak says as he pointed the box in the direction of where the couch previously was. Professor Oak presses the icon and a laser shot out and the couch materialized where it originally was. Ash and Dratini were amazed at the feat of this little box. Oak handed the box to Ash, "I want you to have this as thanks for helping out around the Lab and the ranch the past eight years." Oak says with an appreciative smile on his face. Ash stood there in shock for a second before smiling and accepting the gift. "Thank you so much Professor!" As said as he put the TAB into his backpack.

The two talked for another 10 minutes before Ash decided that it was time to head to his mother's restaurant to say bye to his mother. "Alright Ash my boy, it seems like you have everything you need to go on your journey." The Professor said. "Yup I only have to do one more thing before I go say bye to my mom." Ash then walks out back towards the ranch to see Dragonite outside waiting on him. Dratini uncoiled himself from Ash's body and slithered up to his father.

Dragonite picked his son up and embraced him. Dratini nuzzled into his father's neck. This would be the last time they would see each other for a long while. Dragonite made a soft bellow to his son and made a gesture to Ash implying it is Dratini's job to protect Ash. Dratini got a determined look in his eye and nodded with vigor.

Professor Oak and Ash stood back and watched the precious moment between father and son saying goodbye. Once they were done Dratini slithered up to Ash and looked at him. The young dragon pointed his tail at the empty pokéballs on Ash's belt. Ash fell down anime style because he realized he never officially caught Dratini. Ash then pulled out a pokeball and tapped Dratini on his head. The Dratini was the sucked into the pokéball and it instantly dinged in success. Dratini immediately released himself and coiled back around Ash placing his head on Ash's shoulder. His Pokédex then lit up and processed the information.

Dratini, the Dragon Pokémon. Dratini sheds its skin as it grows, often doing so while hidden behind large powerful : MaleAbilities: Shed Skin, Marvel Scale (Hidden ability)Moves Known: Wrap, Growl, Twister, Dragon Rage, Thunder WaveEgg moves: Dragon Rush, Extreme Speed *Both moves are locked*Size: large

"Looks like the your dream of being the strongest dragon isn't far off" Ash said jokingly with a small smile. Dragonite sweat dropped at the young boys words.

The boys left Professor Oak's lab to head to Delia's restaurant next to the Ketchum residence. Ash walked in the door and a bell jingled signaling someone either can in or out the restaurant. "Welcome to Delia's-" Delia began before she saw who came in. "Oh hey Ashy!" Delia said cheerily, "Im assuming that you're ready to head off?" Delia said in a cheery tone in an attempt to hide that she was going to miss him terribly. She knew that if she showed him how sad she was that he was leaving then he would probably stay with her. She didn't want to hold her son back from achieving his dream of being a Pokémon master. "Yea, I just came by to say bye before I left." As much as Delia tried to hold it in, she finally broke and a few tears managed to escape her eyes as she ran up to hug her baby boy. "I'm going to miss you so much Ashy." Delia said while trying to hold in her tears but failing miserably. "I'm going to miss you to mom" Ash said while on the brink of tears.

"Promise you'll call every time you get to a new city?"

"I Promise"

Delia looked at Dratini and said "Please take care of my baby, he is the only one I got." Dratini nodded his head and allowed Delia to rub his head.

After the the heartfelt goodbye Ash and Dratini began to make their way to Viridian City. The two were on the outskirts of Pallet when Ash looked back one last time before turning around to head into route 1.

The two were walking for about five hours before they came upon small clearing that had a good sized pond near it. "Hey Dratini we should probably start training, if I remember correctly the first gym leader is Brock. From what the pokédex database says he specializes in rock type pokémon." Ash said to his partner. "Let me look at what moves you can learn that will help us against his gym. Ash pulled out his Pokédex and started typing. Ash looked at the Pokédex for about three minutes before deciding what moves would be best for the gym. Ash looked at the dragon in front of him and smiled. "Okay bud I want you to try to start learning Iron Tail. It will be a nasty little surprise for those rocks at his gym." Ash said with a devious smile. Dratini nodded his head. "Now the Pokédex said a good way to begin to harness steel type energy in your tail is to try and break rocks with it." Ash looked around until he found a good sized boulder.

"Alright bud I want you to try and break that rock with your tail. The Pokédex said that after awhile your tail will begin to adapt to hitting the rock and will begin to coat your tail in steel type energy." Dratini nodded his head and slithered to the boulder to begin his training. Ash smiled at the young dragon training. 'As lazy as he is, he is taking this training pretty seriously.' Ash thought to himself.

Ash decided since his Pokémon is training that he should probably train his body as well. So he dropped his backpack near a tree that is within eyesight. He then dropped down to do some push ups and sit-ups. Ash did push ups until he couldn't lift himself up anymore followed by different variations of sit ups. After the sit-ups he decided to work on his cardio and started to run around the clearing. Dratini was busy slamming his tail into the boulder, he beginning to make some progress with his new move. He could see small glimpses of metallic energy forming on parts of his tail. While he was hitting the boulder he caught a glance of Ash training alongside of him. Seeing Ash training next to him lit a fire under Dratini.

From that moment Dratini decided that with Ash is his trainer he will become the strongest Dragonite the world has ever seen. While the two were training a pair of eyes were watching them the entire time trying to decide if they should make themself known to the two.

The two trained for two hours with short breaks every now and then before they decided that it was time for lunch. The two walked (or slithered) to the backpack and plopped down in front of the backpack in exhaustion. Ash began to dig inside of his back in search of some food. He pulled out Dratini's food bowl and grabbed some special food that he learned how to make during his time with Professor Oak. The food Ash pulled out was specifically for dragon types. Oak made sure that Ash knew how to make food nutritious for his future team. Delia made sure to teach Ash how to make food taste delicious. With those two teaching him, there was no way that he could mess up.

Ash pulled out some berries that were in his bag and mixed it in with Dratini's food and gave it to the young Dagon. Dratini dove face first into his bowl and began to devour the food at an insane pace. Ash chuckled at his pseudo-brothers antics. The young dragon had picked up on his trainers horrible eating habits.

Ash pulled out a cheese sandwich and began to eat. The two finished eating and laid down. Dratini coiled in a spot that had sunlight that was near ash and went to sleep. Ash softly smiled at his starter. Ash then noticed that their was a bruise on Dratini's tail. He stood up and quietly as possible, careful not to wake up his Dratini, and went into his backpack to grab the TAB and then walked into the bushes to see if he could find some berries. Oak taught him that berries can be used for a variety of things such as ointments, medicine, and food. Ash walked around for five minutes until he found another clearing that was filled with berries galore. There were Sitrus berries, Oran berries, Rawst berries, Persim berries, Pecha berries, Lum berries, Leppa berries, Chesto berries, Cheri berries, and Aspear berries. There were a number of Pidgey , Caterpie, and Rattata happily eating the berries until they caught sight of Ash and froze. Ash stared at all the Pokémon and they stared back at Ash. Ash slowly raised his hands to show that he meant no harm. The Pokémon eyed Ash for another a couple of seconds before turning back cautiously to continue eating their food. Ash opened the TAB and began to put some of each kind of berry into it. Once Ash felt like he had enough to last him a while he closed the tab and turned to leave. Unaware to him the same pair of eyes that was watching him and Dratini train was still watching him from a distance.

Ash got back to where Dratini was sleeping and sat down next to the young dragon. Ash pulled out a bowl from his backpack and placed an Oarn and Sitrus berry into it. He began to crush the berries until it was a smooth paste. "Hey buddy can you come here for a second?" Asked Ash. Dratini raised his head sleepily and slithered towards his trainer. "Let me see your tail." Said Ash. Dratini complied with a hint of curiosity. Ash put some of the paste in his hands and began to rub it on the bruised area of Dratini's tail. Ash then massaged the berry paste into Dratini's scales. Dratini let out a sigh of pleasure mixed with relief. When the paste wasn't visible on his scales anymore Ash gave Dratini a small pat to tell him he was done.

Dratini gave Ash a look asking 'Where did you learn that?' "Professor Oak showed me that berries can be used for a lot of different things. In this case, I just crushed up some berries and massaged this into the part of your tail that was bruised. I just want to make sure that you stay healthy and in top condition." Answered Ash. After seeing how much care Ash has for Dratini the pair of eyes decided that this human was the one. Dratini raised his head quickly in alert ready to fight whatever was coming out of the bushes. Dratini began to growl threateningly at whatever was coming out of the bushes. Ash stood up and narrowed his eyes in the direction Dratini is glaring at. Dratini tensed up in preparation for whatever was coming.

Suddenly something came out of the bushes.

* * *

 **Well that's the first chapter. I wonder if you guys will be able to guess who will be his second Pokémon. Anyways enjoy your day! Until next time.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys I'm back with a new chapter! Hopefully you all liked my ideas and where I want to go with this story. Just to let you guys know unless something terrible happens to me *knocks on wood* I don't plan on dropping this story. It may take me awhile to produce chapters since I'm in starting a new semester of college this week and my social life has a tendency to take over sometimes, but nonetheless I won't drop this story. And a big thank you to all of you who warned me about the 'bullies' going around the Pokémon community. They have been taken care of. Anyways I present Chapter 2 of The Road Ahead**

* * *

Ash stood tensely behind Dratini waiting for whatever was coming out of the bush to make itself known. The two didn't have to wait long as Dratini was suddenly face to face with a fox-like pokémon.

The pokémon was relatively short. It was close to 3 feet tall. It has a triangular face with slits for eyes, two triangular ears pointed up, a skinny body but it has shoulder pads attached to its shoulders, and a long tail with a single brown stripe towards the end of its tail. It's arms were slender along with its legs, and it has three claws on each hand and three claws on each foot.

Acting quickly Dratini whipped his tail around the intruder and attempted to use Wrap to restrain the new pokémon. However, before Dratini could squeeze and trap the pokémon it disappeared as instantaneous as it appeared. Ash suddenly felt a weight on top of his head. Ash yelped as he tripped forwards at the sudden shift of weight. Dratini whipped its head around to see what is wrong with his trainer.

When Dratini saw the pokémon now on Ash's head he began to see red. Dragon types have always been known to have a ferocious temper. With the amount of power that dragon types possess they have the ability to tear entire cities down if their rage is great enough.

With Dratini thinking Ash is in danger he got incredibly pissed at the pokémon atop his trainers head. Dratini opened his mouth and began to charge the red ball of energy that was Dragon Rage. "WAIT! DON'T FIRE! YOU'LL BLOW MY HEAD OFF WITH IT!" Screamed Ash trying to get through to Dratini. Dratini heard his trainer and realized that he would harm his trainer as well as the pokémon. Dratini powered down the Dragon Rage and gave a death glare at the pokémon.

'What is on my head' Ash thought to himself when he suddenly heard another voice in his head. 'I am on your head' said a monotone voice that sounded like it belonged to a 10 year old boy. Ash almost pissed himself when he heard an answer to his question. Dratini fired a quick Thunder Wave in an attempt to immobilize the pokémon but when the attack was about to land the pokémon disappeared again.

'We can do this all day, but I'd prefer to get to why I am here. I'm not going to bring harm to either of you.' Said the voice in Ash's head again. Dratini was about to fire another Thunder Wave but Ash stopped him. "Wait Dratini, he isn't going to hurt us." Ash told his starter. Dratini stopped at his trainers words. Dratini looked at the pokémon with pure rage. His eyes dared the pokémon to try and touch his trainer again.

'Thank you, now as I was about to say before I was almost crushed by this neanderthal ' the pokémon started while glancing at Dratini, 'I have been watching you two for the past three hours and you have caught my eye. I saw how you trained alongside the neanderthal. I also watched you get berries and make a medicine for the bruise on the neanderthal's tail. Your action have proven admirable. So in conclusion I would like you to capture me in one of those devices on your waist.'

Ash walked forward to the pokémon and crouched down to eye level. "Are you sure this is what you want? Before you join-" Dratini cut Ash off with a roar as deep as he could muster. Dratini wasn't fond of the idea of this intruder joining the team. Ash was surprised at Dratini's outburst and turned to face Dratini. "I know that you probably aren't happy with him right now but to be fair you did attack him before we could see what it wanted." Ash said.

Dratini shook his head aggressively at the idea of this Pokémon joining the team. Dratini then turned his head at his trainer in clear annoyance. Ash was about to say something before closing his mouth to think. Ash smiled mischievously at an idea he just had. Ash then dropped his smile and leaned in so he could whisper to Dratini. "You do know that since you're my starter you would be the leader of the team right?" Ash whispered. Dratini stiffened at Ash's words and turned to look at Ash. "All of the new pokémon would look at you as their leader. But I suppose you don't want that do you." Ash said as he turned around acting like he was about to tell the pokémon the news that he couldn't join. A big smile came on Ash's face once his face wasn't visible to Dratini.

The pokémon saw what Ash was thinking and just shook his head in amusement.

Dratini yelped at Ash to catch Ash's attention. Ash dropped his smile and turned around and acted like he didn't know what Dratini was about to say.

Dratini started nodding his head and pointing with his tail to the pokémon. Ash looked to the pokémon and then back at Dratini. "Are you saying that you want me to catch him?" Ash asked. Dratini nodded his head quickly. "Well alright if you say so." Ash said with a hint of smugness. Ash turned back to the pokémon and said "Anyways like I was saying, before you join I-"

'You want me to know that you are on a journey to become pokémon master. You want me to know that if I join your team then I will have to train very hard so we all can be the best.' The pokémon said mentally to Ash.

Ash was silent for a second then looked slightly irritated at being cut off for the second time in less than 5 minutes. "...Well as long as you know." Ash said as he shrugged his shoulders.

Ash grabbed a pokéball off of his waist and tapped the pokémon on his forehead and it dinged in success after a slight struggle. His Pokédex the lit up and processed the new information.

 **Abra, a Psychic Power Pokémon. It sleeps eighteen hours a day, but employs telekinesis even while sleeping**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Moves known: Teleport**

 **Egg moves: Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch (locked)**

 **Size: Normal**

Abra immediately released himself from the pokéball. Ash looked at Abra with excitement, every trainer wanted a strong Alakazam on their team because of their versatility and their strong psychic power. The same goes for Dragonite for that matter.

"Do you want a nickna-?" Ash began to ask Abra. 'Yes, a so-called nickname would be fine.' Ash was beginning to get tired of being cut off today. Ash then sat down criss cross and began to think. Ash started to name off some names but was shut down immediately. He eventually came to a name that Abra liked. "How about Merlin? He was a powerful magician in a story that my mom used to read to me when I was little."

'Merlin?... I suppose that name will suffice.' Merlin said. Ash smiled at Merlin before he realized he forgot to do something. He turned to Dratini and asked "I forgot to ask you, did you want a nickname?" Dratini shook his head, he could care less about having a nickname, Ash knew who he was and that's all he cared about.

'Now that you are my trainer I shall call you young master.' Merlin told Ash.

"I'd really prefer that you just call me Ash." Ash answered back.

'No. It is customary that psychic types call our trainers master out of respect.' Merlin said adamantly. Ash just shrugged his shoulders, if his pokémon wanted to call him young master then who was he to stop him.

"Well now that that's over with, we should keep going towards Viridian city. Would you prefer to stay out with Dratini and I or do you want to go into your pokéball?" Ash asked. 'I would like to stay outside of my pokéball for now young master.' Merlin responded. "Well alrighty then." Ash said while looking at the clock on his pokédex. "We can travel for a couple more hours before we will have to set up camp for tonight." Dratini and Merlin both nodded at their trainers plans of travel for the rest of the day. Dratini slithered to Ash and assumed his usual position around Ash's body. Merlin began to float and floated close to Ash ready to travel. "Well let's go" Ash said making his way towards Viridian city.

* * *

The group had been walking for about an hour. Dratini had fallen asleep while on Ash was walking so it was just him and Merlin. While they were walking Ash had a thought. "Now that I think about it, Merlin can you teleport us to Viridian city?" Ash asked curiously. 'I cannot, I can only teleport to places I have previously been to. Even if I have been there before I do not possess enough power to safely teleport all of us.' Answered Merlin. "Well speaking of power I remember the pokédex said you don't have any attacking moves right now besides the elemental punches, but those are locked. So how have you survived before you met us?"

'I simply teleport before I get into any real danger' Merlin answered. "Well we should work on fixing that. I've been looking through the pokédex and it says that you won't be able to learn that many moves as an Abra, but It says in the database that Abra have the ability to harness telekinesis. Do you mind on explaining what all you would be able to do with that?" Asked Ash. 'Of course young master. As you can see I am using my telekinesis abilities to make myself float as well as talk directly into your also allows me to see my surroundings better then my eyes could ever do. I can make objects float and can move them around at my will. However, larger objects take more effort and more power.' Merlin explained. 'For example, do you see that rock to your immediate left.' Asked Merlin. Ash turned to look at the rock and nodded. The rock was then encased in a blue layer and began to float and it began to head to Merlin.

Ash was amazed at the things Merlin could do just with telekinesis. 'Just because he can't use any attacks right now doesn't mean he won't be able to battle. If I utilize his telekinesis and his teleportation correctly then he will be a force to be reckoned with.' Ash thought to himself. "Thanks for the explanation bud." Said Ash. 'It is my pleasure young master.'

"By the way can you not call me that?"

'No.'

"..."

'...'

"Fine."

* * *

The three walked for awhile before it began to get dark. Abra had gotten tired and asked to go inside of his pokéball. Ash happily obliged. He knew that Abra's need to get an absurd amount of sleep before they evolve to help with their brains development. So at the moment it was just Ash and Dratini making the trek to Viridian, mainly Ash as Dratini was being lazy and was coiled around Ash per usual. Ash had decided to set up camp for the night and cook dinner for everyone.

Ash set up his tent and made a ring of rocks so he could start a campfire. "Hey bud can you watch the camp while I go get some firewood?" He asked Dratini. Dratini uncoiled from Ash and slithered to the tent and coiled up in front of the tents entrance ready to protect it from anything that came.

"Thanks Dratini, you're the best." Ash said as he walked into the forest-like area to find some firewood. Ash looked for 10 minutes before he came back with an armful of firewood. Ash gave a cheeky smile to Dratini, he was proud of the amount of firewood that he had gathered. He placed half of the wood into the circle and prepared to ignite the wood. "Alright we just need to start the fire now." Said Ash as he pulled out some matches from his bag. He pulled a single match out of the package and lit it. He threw the match into the wood and watched as the fire gradually grew. He looked at Dratini who was also watching the flame grow with interest.

Once Ash was satisfied with the size of the flame he pulled out some pots and pans from his bag. He began to make some food for both Dratini and Merlin. Merlin's food was made specifically for psychic types to help their minds develop. Once Ash was done with their food he pulled some berries out of TAB and mixed them into the food to give it some extra flavor. Once he was satisfied with their food he then pulled out the pokémon bowls and began to fill them up. He finished and set both of them down. "Hey Dratini your food is-" was all Ash could say before Dratini was face first into his food bowl. "...ready." Ash finally finished with a sweat drop.

Ash then released Merlin. "Your food-" Ash started before he was cut off again. 'The food is ready I presume.' Merlin said.

"...you have to stop cutting me off." Ash said with a slightly irritated expression. 'As you wish master' replied Merlin.

"And stop calling me master!"

'No.'

With that being said Merlin began to have small chunks of food float to him as he ate with elegance. Ash saw this and laughed internally about how different his Pokémon are. Dratini was eating savagely like he hasn't ate in days while Merlin was eating proper-like. Ash proceeded to pull out the last sandwhich his mom packed him for his journey and began to eat alongside his new family.

After they finished eating they decided to pack everything up for the night and head to bed. Ash put the fire out and put the extra firewood into TAB for later. Ash rolled out his sleeping bag and got comfortable inside. Merlin returned himself into his pokéball and Dratini slid inside the sleeping bag with Ash. It was a tight squeeze but they both fit nonetheless.

Ash closed his eyes for what seemed like an hour but couldn't fall asleep. He heard soft snoring and he immediately knew that his partner was fast asleep. Ash decided since he couldn't fall asleep then he should at least study up on Brock.

While he was studying he found out something about all the gym leaders. All of the gym leaders are exceedingly powerful. They need to be strong in order to protect the city their gym resides in. They all have different level teams that they use depending on how many badges their challenger has. Their real teams are absolute monsters, a challenger can only battle a gym leaders real team when they have all eight badges.

He searched the pokédex database about Brock to see what pokémon he uses for his no-badge team. After looking for awhile he finally found out he uses a Geodude and an Onix. After about an hour and a half he had a big yawn and decided that he should probably go to sleep. He set his alarm on his Pokédex for 6:30 a.m. so he can wake up and they can get some training done and making it to Viridian.

* * *

The alarm began to blare at 6:30 a.m. just as Ash had set it the previous night. Ash stirred and opened his eyes sleepily. Dratini sleepily rose his head and liked around to see what disturbed his sleep. Once he found out it was the alarm he stared at it in annoyance. Ash turned it off and went outside to brush his teeth and begin making breakfast. After Ash finished brushing his teeth he made breakfast for himself and his team. Dratini slithered out of the tent at the smell of food. He released Merlin but as Ash predicted he was still asleep. Although Merlin was asleep his telekinesis allowed him to continue floating. "Merlin time to eat, after we eat we are going to get some training done." Ash whispered to the young Abra. Merlin suddenly straightened at the sound of his masters voice. 'Of course young master.' Merlin responded.

The three ate their food and walked about twenty feet away from camp so they could train.

"Alright you two, time for some good ole training!" Ash said with a toothy grin. He looked to Dratini, "Alright Dratini, I want you to keep working on Iron Tail, there is a boulder to your left that should be big enough to train with." Dratini nodded and went to go slam his tail against the rock.

"Okay Merlin I want to test just how much you can handle with your telekinesis." Said Ash. Merlin tilted his head in curiosity. 'What do you mean master.' Merlin asked curiously. "I want you to pick up as many rocks as you can and spin them in a circle in a controlled manner." Ash said. Merlin nodded and began to pick up rocks one by one. He got to around twelve decent sized rocks before they began to shake. Merlin had a pained look on his face as if he was struggling to hold up the rocks. "Alright bud that's enough, now try to control it and spin it in a circle."

Merlin nodded and the rocks slowly began to spin in a circle. He would occasionally drop a rock on accident but he would pick it back up. Merlin was struggling but it was definitely a start.

Now that Ash had his pokémon training he figured it was time to train himself. He then dropped to do his pushups and sit-ups. He decided to throw some squats into the mix to work on his legs. After about 30 minutes of training Ash called them to take a break. Ash went to go sit by a tree with shade. Dratini slithered over to him with a sheen of sweat on him. Merlin wobbly floated to Ash and fell into his lab in exhaustion. "Good job everyone, we will take a break for ten minutes before we get back into it. We'll train for another half hour before we pack up and finish making our way to Viridian city." Ash told his tired pokémon. Ash sat Merlin down on the ground for a second before he walked to his backpack. He pulled out TAB and grabbed two Sitrus berries. He walked back to his pokémon and gave each of them a berry. They ate the berry quickly and they could begin to fill a bit of their energy recover. Merlin covered himself in a blue light and began to float again, Dratini began to straighten and looked ready for more training. "Hold on guys, we still have another five minutes to rest. We don't want to overexert ourselves." Ash said wisely.

After the they finished their break they went back to training. They continued their training for a half hour before they finished and packed up camp. "Great job you two. Dratini, your Iron Tail is making great progress. I'd say a couple more sessions and you should have it down pat. And Merlin, I like the control you had over those rocks. I think that if we keep up your hard work then you should be able to pick up bigger and heavier rocks and will be able to do the same thing."

The two pokémon had a face full of pride at the praise from their trainer. If they kept this up they would be powerhouses in no time.

* * *

Ash and Dratini had packed up and began walking about an hour ago. Ash returned Merlin so he can sleep before they left camp. The two were walking when they heard a voice.

"Hey are you a trai- WHERE DID YOU GET A DRATINI!" The boy shouted causing Ash and Dratini jump in surprise.

The boy ran up to Ash and began to throw questions out one after another. "Where did you get it? Did you buy it? How much did you pay? Did you find it? Where?" Asked the boy who was hammering Ash with nonstop questions. When the boy finally ran out of breathe and had to gasp for air Ash decided to take the opportunity to speak before the boy could start up again.

"First of all I didn't buy Dratini here. As for where I got him from is none of your business." Ash decided not to tell him because he didn't want people to swarm Professor Oak demanding he give them a Dratini.

"How about if I beat you in a battle then you have to tell me where you got it." Said the boy with a confident grin on his face.

"Him. Dratini is a boy." Ash corrected.

"Sorry, if I win you will tell me where you got him" said the boy as he corrected himself.

"You're on!" said Ash with a fire in his eye. Adrenaline began to rush through his veins as he was getting ready to have his first battle as a trainer. Now he only has to figure out who to use. Since Merlin needs to rest it was pretty obvious who he needed to use. "You ready to battle bud." Ash asked with a toothy smile. Dratini nodded his head and slid in front of Ash in battle stance. The boy moved back to make space for the battle and sent out his Pokémon. After the brief white flash a small quadrupedal pokémon came out. It had purple fur all over its body except for its mouth, paws, and under belly; a long tail that curled at the end, tiny paws, and giant front teeth.

"Rattaaa" called the pokémon. Ash instantly recognized it as a Rattata.

"You can have the first move." Said Ash. "You'll regret that. I hope you're ready to tell me where you got him." Said the boy rather cockily. "Rattata use Quick Attack." The Rattata took off at blinding speed and slammed into Dratini who grunted at the hit and was sent back sliding for a couple of feet. "Are you ok pal?" Ash shouted with slight worry. Dratini looked back and nodded with a grin. Ash grinned back and focused on the battle. "Alright bud let's get them back with Thunder Wave." Dratini creates a small shock and sent it towards Rattata but the Rattata sped off before the move could connect. "Use quick attack again to move around and hit him. He can't hurt you if he can't catch you." The boy said confidently. The Rattata began to streak around the makeshift battlefield and was striking Dratini constantly. The small rat would get away before Dratini got the chance to strike back. This went on for a minute before Ash noticed Dratini was taking considerable damage.

The boys previous words began ring in Ash's head for a split second before an idea went off in his head. "Quick Dratini when Rattata gets close dodge and grab him with your tail and use Wrap." Ash said just loud enough so only Dratini could hear him. Dratini showed he heard it by nodding his head and waiting. When Rattata came in to hit Dratini again he slid out of the way and grabbed the small normal type with his long tail. Dratini began to wrap around Rattata and predicted Ash's next order.

"Quick use Thunder Wave while you have him." Said Ash. Dratini created the small electrical shock again and this time he successfully landed the move since the Rattata was in point blank range. The small rat grimaced in pain. Not only was he being squeezed but his body wouldn't move because of the paralysis. "Throw him to the ground and use twister." Said Ash getting ready to end the battle.

"Quick Rattata try to get away" said the boy who was clearly worried about his pokémon. The Rattata tried to move but paralysis kicked in on the small pokémon. Dratini threw Rattata into the ground and began to form draconic energy and it formed into a twister. The twister picked up Rattata and swirled it around for about thirty seconds. Dratini then released the Twister to see Rattata on the ground struggling the get up. "Dratini let's try Iron Tail to finish this battle off." Dratini quickly slithered to Rattata and rose its to attempt to use Iron Tail. A small glimpse of Steel type energy showed up on his tail but it disappeared after just before it hit Rattata. When Dratini slammed his tail down on Rattata's head it fainted and had swirls in his eyes. "Great job Dratini we won our first battle together!" Ash said excitedly as he ran up to Dratini and gave him a big hug. Dratini did his best imitation of a hug and rubbed his head on Ash's neck. Ash and Dratini smiled as this was the first of many battles together. This battle will be something that they would never forget.

Ash gave Dratini a rub on the top of his head and then looked up to see the trainer on his knees holding the defeated Rattata. Dratini followed his trainers eyes and guessed what he was about to do. Dratini slithered up Ash's body and assumed his usual position.

"Hey that was a great battle! You almost got me." Said Ash with his hand held out and a smile on his face. The boy looked up and smiled, "Thanks, it was a good battle. My name is Ricky." Said the now named boy as he took Ash's hand and pulled himself up. "My name is Ash and this is my pal Dratini." Dratini lazily nodded his head at Ricky. "I wish you would tell me where you got him though." Ricky said with a crestfallen expression. Ash looked at Dratini and they had a mental conversation on whether they should tell him or not. After what seems like minutes but was actually a few seconds Ash turned to look at Ricky, "Sorry I can't tell you where I got him."

Ricky sighed and accepted his defeat. Ricky reached into his backpack and handed Ash a small wad of cash. "Here is your winnings, maybe we can battle again someday." Ricky said with a smile before he walked away.

* * *

Ash was in high spirits now that he officially won his first trainer battle. Once he got closer to Viridian more trainers challenged him. He and Dratini won all of the battles, albeit he almost lost a battle against a Raticate who knew Super Fang. He had collected a nice sum of money from defeating all of the trainers.

"If we keep winning like this we should have enough to buy a permanent TM by the time we get to Celadon city!" Ash said with a smile. Dratini roared in pride. He was determined to win every battle Ash used him in. The two were walking when Dratini straightened to look ahead and made and excited roar. He came back down to Ash's shoulder and looked ahead and smiled.

Ash instantly knew that Viridian was close. Ash smiled and started to run down the path. Ash felt the rush of wind hitting his skin as he was running. Dratini was enjoying the view he was getting from Ash's shoulder.

It was around midday when Ash and Dratini made it to the gates of the city when they were stopped suddenly. "HALT! What are you doing with such a rare pokémon outside of its pokéball. Did you steal him?" Said a women Ash recognized as Officer Jenny. Officer Jenny looked to be in her early twenties. She had turquoise hair pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a short skirt that stopped well above her knees, a police shirt that went halfway down her upper arm, she wore white gloves, black heels, and finished her outfit with a official blue police force hat. A surprised look grew on Ash and Dratini's face as they didn't expect to be stopped like this.

Ash had to process the fact that he was being accused of being a thief before he replied. "He isn't in his pokéball because he doesn't want to go inside his pokéball and no I didn't steal him." Ash said with a sour tone. His excitement had been ruined by the accusation that he had stolen his bestfriend. "Do you have any proof that you aren't a thief?" Asked Officer Jenny.

Ash looked troubled at first until he remembered that his pokédex can also be used as an ID. He pulled out his pokédex from his inside jacket pocket and handed it to the blue hair lady. She grabbed the pokédex and pressed a button.

The pokédex sounded off " _I am Dexter. I was given to trainer Ashton Red Ketchum from Professor Samuel Oak. If I am broken or stolen I cannot be replaced._ "

Officer Jenny then smiled softly and handed Ash his pokédex back. "I'm sorry that I accused you of being a thief, we have just had reports of people trying to steal pokémon recently so we are on high alert." Ash took his pokédex and nodded in understanding. "If that's the case I can see why you would stop people with pokémon outside of their pokéball." Ash said. "Thank you for understanding. Well since you're a trainer and you're just getting here I'd take a guess and say you're about to look for the Pokémon center." Said Officer Jenny.

"Actually I am, you wouldn't happen to know how to get there would you?" Ash asked. "How about I do you one better, as an apology for accusing you, how about I personally take you there?" Officer Jenny offered. "Sure that sounds great." Ash said not knowing what he was getting himself into.

"Great, Hop on!" Officer Jenny said as she jumped on her motorcycle and patted a spot right behind her. Ash reluctantly sat behind Officer Jenny and held her tight. As Ash held on to Officer Jenny he could smell a sweet smelling perfume faintly on her which caused his teenage hormones to flare up. Officer Jenny started her bike and zoomed off towards the Pokémon center. Ash was forced to close his eyes because of the wind rushing in on his face. Dratini squeezed Ash tighter than usual to ensure that he didn't fall off.

The three raced through the streets of Viridian until they approached a building with a red roof and a pokéball on the front of the roofing. Officer Jenny expertly drifted her bike to a stop right in front of the door. Ash had an iron grip on Officer Jenny to make sure that he nor Dratini would fall off of her bike. Ash didn't realize that they had came to a stop.

*cough* Officer Jenny let out to signal that they had arrived. Ash slowly opened one of his eyes to see if he had survived the ride and made it to the poke center. Once he saw that they were at their destination he hopped off of her bike with enthusiasm. If he never had to ride on her bike like that again it would be too soon. Ash turned to Officer Jenny and bowed, "Thank you for the lift." Ash said gratefully. "It's no problem, it's the least I could do. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get back to work." Said Officer Jenny as she raced off on her bike.

Ash turned around and walked into the Pokémon center. Inside of the Pokémon center was fairly empty except for the three other people in the section with a couch set and a TV. Ash and Dratini looked around until he saw a pink-haired women with pigtails that looped back up standing at the ground desk. They walked up and gave the woman a smile. "Hello! How can I help you?" Asked the woman politely. Ash looked and saw a name tag that said Joy. Nurse Joy looked like she was at most 20 years old. She had on a pink dress and had a white apron on over it. She also had a nurses hat on and white flat shoes on.

"Hi Nurse Joy, I wanted to sign up for the Pokémon league and get a room for the night." Said Ash. "No problem. May I see your pokédex." Said the nurse with a gentle smile. Ash reached inside of his jacket pocket to pull out his pokédex and handed it to the pink-haired nurse. "Thank you, it will only take a second."

Nurse Joy inserted Ash's pokédex into a slot in the computer and waited a few seconds before it popped back out. "Here you are, you're all registered! Here is your room key." Nurse Joy said as she handed Ash his Pokédex and room key. "Thanks Nurse Joy! While your at it can you check on my pokémon to make sure that they are healthy?" Asked Ash. "Of course I can! Your Dratini will have to go back into his pokéball because he is too big to fit inside of the machine." Nurse Joy said with a smile. She loved making sure pokémon are healthy and in tip-top shape. Ash handed her Merlin's pokéball and he turned to Dratini. "I need you to go back into your ball so she can make sure you're healthy. When she is done I promise I'll let you out as soon as I can." Ash told his bestfriend. Dratini just rolled his eyes as he didn't like his pokéball, it made him feel trapped and uncomfortable. "Thanks bud, you're the best!" Ash said as he returned Dratini. He looked at Dratini's pokéball and smiled as he handed it to Nurse Joy.

"Don't worry I'll take great care of them. Just hang around and I'll call you in the overhead when I'm done. It should only take about ten minutes considering you only have two pokémon." Said Nurse Joy with a smile. Ash nodded and went to the couch area with the other people Ash assumed were trainers. They sat and watched TV in silence for awhile.

Before Ash knew it he heard his name called on the overhead telling him that his pokémon were all ready. Ash got off of the couch and made his way to the counter to pick up his pokémon. "You're pokémon are all healthy and ready to go!" Said Nurse Joy with a smile. Ash took his pokéballs and immediately released Dratini. Dratini stretched all 6 ½ ft of his body out and looked at Ash. When he saw his trainer he coiled around him and assumed his normal position and nuzzled his face. Ash laughed and rubbed Dratini's face . Nurse Joy smiled at the relationship between Ash and his pokémon.

"Why don't we head outside and get some more training done. After that we can get something to eat and maybe we can explore the city if we aren't too tired." Ash Asked Dratini. Dratini smiled and gave an excited roar at the idea of getting stronger. People around the Pokémon Center looked at Ash and Dratini because of the random outburst. Ash laughed nervously at the sudden attention and made his way outside to the practice battle fields. Ash released Merlin from his pokéball. "Time to train Merlin, after we finish you can go back to sleep." Ash told Merlin. Merlin straightened at his trainers words. 'As you wish master. What shall we work on this time?'

"I actually want you to keep working on what we worked on we worked on this morning, except I want you to focus more on control than the number of rocks that you can pick up. When you evolve your psychic powers will be a lot stronger so it's important that we are able to control it. The last thing we want is you losing control of your powers." Ash said with a small smile.

'As you wish master.' Merlin said as he teleported off to work on his control. Ash turned to Dratini and said "Judging from this morning's session you almost have Iron Tail down. Let's finish that up."

Dratini nodded his head and roared. He slithered off to find a rock that was big enough for him to train with. Ash decided that he would float between the both of their training to make sure that everything went smooth.

* * *

The two pokémon trained for two hours before Ash decided that it was enough training for the day. Ash praised both of his pokémon and gave them both another berry. "Alright Merlin, do you want me to bring you back out for dinner or do you just want to sleep?" Asked Ash.

'It would be appreciated if you brought me out for supper master.' Ash nodded and as promised he returned Merlin so he could go back to sleep.

"Looks like it's just us again huh pal." Ash said looking at his tired dragon. Dratini nodded at his trainer and yawned lazily before coiling around Ash as usual. Dratini laid his head down and Ash's shoulder and almost immediately fell asleep.

'Guess I worked them a little too hard, I should make them an especially delicious dinner tonight to say thanks for their hard work.' Ash thought to himself. Ash walked back into the center and headed to his room. Ash pulled out his key and opened the door. The room was fairly basic, it had a full sized bed with a nightstand next to it. There was a bird perch in the corner of the room for any flying types, there was a small tank for water types, and a heat lamp for fire types. Ash went to the bed and carefully uncoiled Dratini from his body so he didn't accidentally wake him up. Once he was sure Dratini wouldn't wake up he left the room as quietly as possible. He kept Merlin's pokéball just in case something happened and he needed him.

Ash made his way to the kitchen that the center offered to trainers and began to make his small team a delicious dinner. He made sure to put important nutrients in the food to make sure that they would be able to recover nicely. Ash grabbed a couple of berries and grind them into a paste. He added the berry paste into the food to make sure that the food tasted fresh and delicious. Once Ash was satisfied he put some of the food he made in the food bowls. He put the rest of it in a bag and put it in TAB. He carried the two bowls back to the room and placed them on the floor.

Dratini began to shift in his sleep and started to sniff the air. Once Dratini was sure that he smelled food his eyes shot open and looked around until he found his bowl full of food. Ash released Merlin so he could eat. "Alright you two, you guys worked really hard today so this is my thanks for all the hard work." Ash said as he rubbed both of their heads. Merlin and Dratini both smiled at their trainer before they dug into their food. Ash smiled at his pokémon as he pulled out a sandwich that he made and started to eat. The three quickly ate all of their food and laid back as they let their bodies digest the food. After about five minutes Ash got up to go wash Merlin and Dratini's food bowl in the bathroom. When Ash finished he put the bowls back into his backpack and was about to grab clothes to take a shower until he heard a loud explosion coming from the lobby.

They three looked at each other and decided to check out what was happening. Dratini coiled around Ash immediately and Merlin glowed with a fierce blue and was floating next to Ash. Ash opened his room door and ran towards the lobby. The lobby was filled with smoke which caused Ash to go into a coughing fit. Ash could hear a three voices laughing. "What's going on here?" Ash asked out loud in between breaths, but the response he got was not what he expected.

(Insert motto)

 **(I refuse to put that annoying motto in here)**

Ash was shocked that the Meowth was not only standing on his hind legs but he even spoke. Ash shook out of his stupor and realized what was important. Team Rocket? What are you guys doing busting through the Pokémon center roof?" Ash asked.

"We are here to steal all of the pokémon here, so hand them all over." Said Jessie as she pulled out a large brown sack. "Not if we have something to say about it. Let's go Dratini and Merlin." Dratini uncoiled from Ash and slithered in front of Ash in battle position. Merlin teleported in front of Ash ready for his first battle with a trainer. "Nurse Joy we will take care of these two, make sure that the pokémon are safe!"

"I will! Be safe!" Nurse Joy said as she ran in the back to transfer all of pokémon to her sister in Pewter city.

"Look James the little boy wants to battle, let's show him what happens when you mess with Team Rocket." Jessie said as she throws out an Ekans. "You're going to regret this." Said James as he released a Koffing.

"Quick Koffing use smokescreen followed by a tackle attack on that Dratini." Commanded James. "Ekans use bite on that Abra." Said Jessie as she pointed to Abra. Koffing started to spew out a thick and dark colored smoke that was beginning to block Ash's view of the battlefield.

"Quick Merlin, can you gather all of the smokescreen and send it back towards them?" Ash asked in a slightly panicked voice. 'I will try young master.' Said Merlin as his eyes began to glow as the smokescreen began to blue and the smokescreen slowly stopped and started to head back to the Koffing and Ekans. The two both stopped their attack's because they couldn't see. "While they are distracted Dratini use Dragon Rage." Dratini opened his mouth and a red ball of energy formed in his mouth. Once Dratini decided it was ready he fired it and the energy formed into the shape of a dragon. The move hit its mark and the three heard screams. "Merlin can you clear the smoke?" Asked Ash.

'As you wish master.' Merlin said as he directed all of the smoke towards the hole in the roof to make the room visible again.

"What are you two doing?! Get up and do something!" Screamed Jessie and James. Ekans and Koffing struggled to get up from the powerful move. Ekans fired a weak looking poison sting at Merlin, while Koffing rushed in to tackle Dratini. "Merlin dodge and try to hold down Koffing. Dratini use Thunder Wave on Koffing." Ash ordered. His pokémon immediately went to work as Merlin teleported away from the poison sting and reappeared on Koffings side. Merlin reached out with his hands in Koffings direction and a faint blue light surrounded Koffing. Dratini took that as the signal to fire the Thunder Wave and he did so. Koffing tried to dodge but he was having problems with moving because of the annoying psychic type on his left. Ekans wasn't going to allow them to double team it's teammate so it dived towards Merlin while it was distracted and used bite on Merlin's tail. Merlin instantly let go of the Koffing and fell to the ground due to the loss of psychic energy. Fortunately for Ash the Thunder Wave already connected and Koffing was now paralyzed. "Oh no Merlin! Are you okay?!" Ash asked worriedly. 'No, I-...use my telek-... with-...snake pumping dark-..energy into-.' was all Merlin could get out as the dark type energy was interfering with his psychic power.

"Dratini use wrap on Koffing and throw him at Ekans to break Merlin loose." Dratini took immediate action and followed through with his trainers orders. Dratini sprang towards Koffing and used wrap and threw him at Ekans as hard as he could. Koffing speed through the air and hit Ekans in the head. The impact caused Ekans to let go of Merlin and Dratini used wrap on his teammate to get him away from the Ekans before he could bite him again. "Meowth do something!" Screamed Jessie as she kicked Meowth to the battlefield.

"I forgot I am a Pokémon! Have a taste of my Fury Swipes!" Meowth said as he rushed in on Dratini. "Quick use Twister to catch Ekans and Meowth and hit them with Thunder Wave." Ordered Ash. Dratini's eyes flowed blue and a wind stirred up and it quickly became quite large. It sucked up Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth and they were tossed around like rag dolls inside of the twister. Dratini finished the order with a Thunder Wave that struck all three pokémon. Dratini released the Twister and let the three paralyzed pokémon hit the floor.

The three pokémon were all unconscious and spazzing because of paralysis. Jessie and James saw the predicament they were in and quickly returned their pokémon and turned to run out the front door. "No you don't! Use Thunder Wave on them so they can't get away." Dratini happily sent a Thunder Wave at them and they immediately fell to the ground. "Merlin can you hold these two down just in case?" Ash asked. 'I will try my best master.' Merlin said as he held his hands out towards the two and held them down to the ground.

"Nurse Joy, call Officer Jenny and let her know what is happening." Ash said to Nurse Joy.

"I already have she should be here any second." Nurse Joy answered back. As soon as she finished her sentence a squad of officers came in and saw the two Team Rocket members on the ground.

"Someone quickly cuff these two and take them back to the station." Officer Jenny yelled. Two officers immediately cuffed the two and led them out of the building. She looked at the Meowth that was still on the floor. "Was this Meowth one of their pokémon Ash?" Asked Officer Jenny. "I don't know if he is one of their pokémon because I never saw him in a pokéball but he is definitely working with them." Ash said while looking at the Meowth. Officer Jenny nodded and pulled out a special dark blue pokéball and tapped Meowth. Meowth was sucked into the pokéball and struggled for a bit before the ball dinged with success. Officer Jenny picked up the pokéball and put whistled for one of her officers to take it. She told him to take it back to the station and leave it in her office. "We will send him to the league so they can interrogate him, rehabilitate him, and maybe get released back into the wild." Officer Jenny told Ash.

Ash nodded before he yawned. He didn't realize how tired he was. Officer Jenny noticed Ash yawn and walked up to him. "What you did was really dumb, If these two were actually dangerous you could've been seriously hurt!" Officer Jenny scolded at Ash. Dratini and Merlin stepped in front of Ash and glared at Officer Jenny for yelling at their trainer. Officer Jenny saw this and instantly backed up a couple steps. Officer Jenny sighed, "Although it was really dumb, it was really brave of you to step in and stop them." She stood up straight and gave him a salute. "As a representative of the Viridian Police Force I would like to formally thank you. Come by my office tomorrow, I have something that I'd like to give you." Officer Jenny said as she walked out of the Pokémon center.

Ash looked at his two pokémon and smiled as wide as his face would allow. He went down and hugged both Dratini and Merlin in happiness. "I'm so proud of you two! Merlin I'm so proud of the way you were able to control the smokescreen and how you can hold pokémon down as well as you can. Dratini I'm so happy with the amount of power you have in your attacks." Ash said with a smile. His pokémon beamed at the level of praise they were receiving. Both Dratini and Merlin yawned as they were just as tired as Ash, if not more. "Okay guys I'm going to return you so Nurse Joy can heal you guys and then we will head to bed." Ash told his pokémon. Merlin simply nodded and was returned. Dratini vigorously shook his head. He wanted to stay next to Ash in case something else happened, he needed to protect Ash. "It's okay bud I'll be right over there the entire time." Ash said as he pointed to the couch area. Dratini looked at the area and deemed it a safe area for his trainer to wait without him. Dratini finally allowed himself to be returned to his pokéball. Ash walked over to the counter to where Nurse Joy was busy typing something on her computer. "Nurse Joy can you check my pokémon? I want to make sure they are alright from that battle." Ash said.

"Of course, it's the least I can do since you defended the pokémon that were in the back." Said Nurse Joy with a smile. Ash handed her the pokeballs and went to go wait in the area he told Dratini he would be at. After about ten minutes Nurse Joy walked up to Ash with Dratini and Merlin's pokéball. "Your Dratini is fine, he just needs a good night's rest. However your Abra got bit in his tail pretty good, it'll be sore for a couple of days but he should be fine." Said Nurse Joy after handing Ash his pokéballs. "Thank you so much Nurse Joy!" Ash said gratefully. "It's the least I can do for you." Nurse Joy said with a smile. Ash released Dratini from his pokéball and he coiled around Ash faster than Ash could say his own name. Dratini looked a lot more comfortable when he was wrapped around Ash.

Nurse Joy smiled at Ash and Dratini's relationship again for the second time today. It was at that point that Nurse Joy decided she would give Ash a present herself. Nurse Joy leaned in and gave Ash a kiss on the cheek.

Ash's face grew redder than a pokéball and he stiffened like a board. Nurse Joy straightened back up and said "That's my thanks for saving the center." Nurse Joy said sweetly before turning to walk through the doors behind the front desk. Ash stood there stupefied at what just happened. He was so flustered that he didn't even notice Dratini laughing his head off at Ash's facial expression. After what seemed like a minute Ash touched his cheek where he was kissed and began to walk back to his room. Once he was in his room he took a shower and laid in bed. Dratini was fast asleep coiled up at the end of the couldn't sleep because he kept thinking about how Nurse Joy kissed him on his cheek. After a ten minutes or so Ash gave a big yawn and decided he should try and go to sleep. After all he wanted to go get his reward from Officer Jenny and then try and make his way through Viridian Forest. To say that Ash was excited was an understatement. Ash was ready for tomorrow's events.

* * *

 **Well that's the second chapters! How many of you guessed right about Merlin? I've read a ton of fanfics and I can probably count on one hand how many times he gets an Abra. Let's see if you can guess what Officer Jenny is going to give him. Remember guys, Ash is 15 so it's not like he is a little kid. So don't bash me about Nurse Joy being a pedophile for giving him a kiss on the cheek. In this fanfic once you are 15 you are considered an adult.**

 **Anyways I'm starting school this week so I might not be able to upload as much as I would like to. So please be patient with me. I'll upload as soon as I can. Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guy, I'm back with another update! I've thought about it a lot and I decided that Ash will only catch Kanto Pokémon while he is in Kanto. The same goes for every other region he goes to. I don't see myself giving him more than 8 or 9 pokémon. I think if he gets more than that then he won't be able to bond and train them the way that he wants. But enough of that let's get into the chapter.**

* * *

Ash woke up to the loud and obnoxious sound of his alarm that he had set on his pokédex last night. Ash rolled out of bed and walked to the dresser where his pokédex was to turn it off. He learned to put his alarm away from his bed when he was still at home, if he left his alarm by his bed he would press snooze in his sleep and be late for Professor Oak's lesson that day.

Ash stretched his muscles and gave a long yawn. He walked into the bathroom to shower and brush his teeth. After he showered he woke Dratini up and they left for the cafeteria to get breakfast.

The two walked into a rather empty cafeteria and found a booth. Ash set his backpack down on the table to show that the table was taken and left to go get food. Ash grabbed an adequate amount of food for Dratini and Merlin and put it in their food bowls. Ash added in a couple of berries to help out with flavor since it was the generic pokémon food. Once Ash got back to the table with the bowls full of food Ash released Merlin so he could eat. "Eat up boys, we have a long day ahead of us." Ash said as he left to get himself food.

Ash came back after five minutes with a mountain full of food. Ash was about to start devouring his food until he heard his mother's voice in his head telling him to eat with table manners. Ash sat up straight and began to eat somewhat properly. Ash's table manners weren't the best, but he was trying nonetheless.

When everyone finished eating they went back to their room and packed up so they can leave. When they finished getting all of their stuff out of the room they walked to the lobby to return the key. Ash walked into the lobby and instantly blushed. Standing at the front desk was Nurse Joy who was doing work on her computer. Ash took a deep breath and tried to push his blush down. He walked to the desk and Nurse Joy turned and looked at Ash. "Hey Ash, what can I do for you?" Nurse Joy Asked with a smile.

"I'm just returning the key for my room. It's about time I got going, I want to get through some of Viridian Forest." Ash said as he handed Nurse Joy the room key. Nurse Joy took the key and put it into a slot into her computer. "Well Thank you for helping save the Pokémon center again, and I wish you the best on your journey!" Nurse Joy said with a sincere smile.

"Thanks Nurse Joy, see you later!" Ash said as he walked out of the center.

* * *

Ash and his Pokémon were walking (in Merlin's case floating) to the police station to see what his reward for stopping Team Rocket last night would be. Luckily the police station was a ten minute walk from the Pokémon center so it didn't take long to get there. The two walked up to a large building with a blue roof. There was a sign on the front of the roof that read 'Viridian Police Force'.

Ash walked up to the front door and the doors slid open by itself. Inside of the building was a nice front area that had a coffee table, three chairs, a TV, and a rack full of magazines. There was a front desk that a middle aged man wearing an officers uniform sat at working on a computer. Ash walked up and to the man and waited.

"What can I do for y-" The Officer started before looking up to see who he was speaking to. "Hey you're that kid from last night! Officer Jenny said you would be coming by sometime today." The Officer said as he got up to unlock the door that separates the front area and the station where all the other officers are and let Ash in. "She should be in her office right now, just a warning she is a little tired because she spent all night interrogating the two Rocket grunts." The Officer said as he pointed to an office towards the back of the station. "One more thing." The Officer said right before Ash started to walk inside. "You'll need to return your Abra, the inside on the station was built with a special material that prevents psychic types from teleporting in or out, so it will interfere with your Abra's abilities." The Officer explained.

Ash looked down at Merlin to make sure he heard what the officer said. 'What the man is saying is true. I can feel a disturbance coming from that room that is making my mind waver. I wish to be returned.' Merlin said. "Alright, I'll let you back out when we leave." Ash said as he returned Merlin.

Ash looked back to the officer and smiled. "Thank you for your help." Ash said gratefully as he bowed in respect.

Ash began to make his way through the noisy police station. He eventually found himself in front of Officer Jenny's office. Once he was at the door he knocked twice and waited patiently. He didn't have to wait long as the door opened to reveal an exhausted looking woman. Officer Jenny had dark bags under her eyes from lack of sleep and was sipping on a cup of coffee in an attempt to wake herself up.

"Ash! Come in and have a seat." Officer Jenny said perking up seeing Ash standing there. Ash nodded and walked in and took a seat in front of the rather large desk. Officer Jenny closed the door and suppressed the noise of the loud office by a considerable amount. Officer Jenny walked back to her desk and sat across from Ash.

"Are you okay? You look like you haven't gotten any sleep." Ash asked with concern. Officer Jenny chuckled at the boy and took another sip of her coffee. "I'm fine, I was up all night trying to figure why Team Rocket is back and what their plans are."

"Did you find anything out?" Ash asked curiously.

"Not much, but you shouldn't worry about any of that. Let the league handle this." Officer Jenny said seriously. Officer Jenny pulled out a notebook paper and wrote a number down then gave it to Ash. "If you even have another run in with Team Rocket call this number immediately."

"How am I going to call the number?" Ash asked. Officer Jenny gave a toothy grin and pulled out gift box from under her desk. "That actually brings me to your reward, because of the bravery that you and your pokémon displayed during the incident last night, we at the Viridian City Police Force would like to give you this as our thanks." Ash opened the box and his eyes widened at what he saw. He pulled out small handheld device.

"This is the new pokégear! It's not set to be released until next year, how did you get it?!" Ash asked in surprise as he began to figure the device out.

"Being the head of a Police department has its perks." Officer Jenny said with a smile and a wink.

"Anyways, that pokegear has a lot of useful functions like a phone or a videophone, a map, access to internet, a journal and some others. I won't tell you everything it has to offer because it'll ruin the surprise." Officer Jenny explained. "You don't have to worry about not having a signal when you want to make a call because instead of using towers to get a signal, the league created a small chip that gives the pokégear direct access to a satellite so you will always have a signal. It is waterproof and is also shatter resistant."

Ash was dumbfounded by the amount of work the league must have put into this small device. "Are you sure you want me to have this? It seems like a really important device." Ash asked. "Of course! It's the least we can do for stopping Team Rocket. They have been hiding for the past 15 years, so yesterday was the first time in a long time that they have made themselves known. So if you happen to run into them again promise me you will avoid them at all cost and that you will call that number." Officer Jenny asked Ash.

Ash processed what he was just told and thought about it for a second before smiling. "I promise, If possible I'd like to avoid them all together but if I see them endangering someone I can't guarantee that I won't do anything." Ash told her.

Officer Jenny just sighed and shook her head. "Like I said, try to stay away from them. Anyways I think it's time that you continued your journey." She said with a small smile. Ash stood up and and bowed. "Thank you for this amazing gift. I will take great care of it." Ash said gratefully. "It's no problem, now try to stay out of trouble." Officer Jenny said with a smile.

* * *

Ash and Dratini left the Viridian City police department and were about to make their way to Viridian Forest until

Ash remembered something that made him stop in his tracks. Ash looked at Dratini with fear on his face and spoke a single sentence that sent shivers down both of their spines.

"I forgot to call mom." Ash said dreadfully.

Ash pulled out his new pokégear and decided to try it out. He dialed the number to his mother's restaurant and put the pokégear to his ear and let it ring.

After it rang for a bit someone picked up the phone. "Delia's Dinner How May I help you?" Asked a voice of one of employees that he recognized. "Hey Joe! Is my mom around?" Ash asked.

"Oh hey Ash! She just finished helping a customer, give me a second to grab her." Joe said. Ash waited for a second or two before he heard his mother's voice.

"Ashton Red Ketchum." Delia said eerily calm.

Ash gulped loudly because he knew the calmer his mother got the more mad she was. "...yes?" Ash asked quietly.

"Didn't I tell you to call me when you made it to Viridian?" Delia spoke calmly.

"...yes"

"I hope you have a good reason as for why you didn't call me." Delia said.

Ash looked at Dratini and they debated silently on whether they should tell her what happened last night. The two concluded that they shouldn't tell her because it would scare the daylights out of her if she knew her son had a run-in with the infamous Team Rocket.

"I'm sorry mom, I really meant to but I honestly forgot. I promise it will never happen again!" Ash sincerely apologized. Delia let out a sigh and spoke.

"You are my only son Ashy, I don't know what I would do if something ever happened to you." Delia said while beginning to get emotional. "I just want you to stay safe!" Delia said trying not to choke on tears. "Promise me you won't forget to call again?"

"I promise."

"Good. Now where are you heading next?" Delia asked while trying to get her composure together again.

"I'm heading to Pewter to get my first badge." Ash said determinedly. "Oh I know you'll do great honey! Have you caught any pokémon yet?" Delia asked.

"Yea! I caught an Abra, his name is Merlin. He is super smart! I can't wait for you to meet him." Ash said with excitement. "An Abra huh? The Abra line are extremely powerful psychics, if you train him right, and I know you will, he will definitely be an amazing addition to your team." Delia said with a smile.

"I know mom, I should probably start heading out and start Viridian Forest. It will take me about a week or so to get through it. I'll call you when I get to Pewter."

"Ok Ashy. I'll talk to you soon, I love you!"

"I love you too mom!" Ash said before he hung up. Ash turned to Dratini and smiled "That went as well as I hoped it would." Dratini gave a nod of agreement. "Well let's start heading through Viridian Forest."

* * *

Ash and his team had been traveling through Viridian Forest for the past three days. They would eat breakfast and train, followed by a couple of hours of traveling before lunch. They would travel more until Ash decided that it was enough for the day. They would usually end the day with more training and eating dinner. Due to the amount and the intensity of the training, Dratini and Merlin were progressing adequately.

Dratini had Iron Tail down and had began working on agility. Ash wanted Dratini to not only hit hard, but to hit hard and get out the way before he could get hit back. He had done his research and he realized that the Dratini line doesn't get its defense buff until it's final evolution. So Ash's solution to this was to work on Dratini's speed and evasion.

Merlin was making great progress with his telekinesis. He was able to pick up 13 good sized rocks. Albeit with some struggle, he can hold them up for about a minute and a half before he starts to drop them. Ash also had Merlin work on how quickly he could teleport. Ash knew that the Abra line were quite frail so it he decided to fix that by having Merlin get around the field by teleporting. Whenever Merlin teleported a flash would occur where he was about to show up. Ash knew that as Merlin gets more experienced and as he gets older the flash would decrease until the point where there isn't a flash at all.

It was a little past noon on the fourth day in Viridian Forest and they had just finished their lunch. Ash cleaned up the rest area and returned Merlin so he could go back to sleep. Ash and Dratini then hit the road again.

"I wonder why we haven't ran into that many trainers, I'd like to try and get you guys some more battle experience." Ash said in a bummed voice. Dratini nuzzled Ash's face to try to cheer his partner up. Dratini knew that their main goal was to get through Viridian Forest, then they would worry about finding trainers to battle against. Ash smiled at his starters antics and cheered up. "You're right bud. Let's just get through this Forest first." Ash said with a smile.

The two walked for another hour before they heard a faint cry for help that sounded like it belonged to a pokémon. The cry came from somewhere away from the trail that they were currently walking on. Ash and Dratini looked at each other and instantly knew that they had to help.

The two walked off of the trail and began to follow the cry. Ash walked as quietly as possible just in case something dangerous was around. After a couple of minutes the sound of the cry was much closer. They heard the sound of metal being scratched and a Pokémon's deep growl. Ash and Dratini crouched down and hid behind some bushes. The carefully peeked out of the bushes incase someone was around to see what was making that sound.

What they saw made Ash and Dratini see red. A pokémon Ash recognized as a Growlithe has gotten stuck in a pokémon trap. **(A/N imagine a bear trap)** Around the trap was a small pool of blood. The trap was clamped shut towards the top of Growlithe's paw and from the amount of blood around the trap, it looked to be in fairly deep. Growlithe had began biting the trap in an attempt to get the trap off, which was not only failing miserably, but it seemed to cause it great pain.

"Dratini wait here, I'm going to try to save him. If anyone comes near us stop them with Thunder Wave." Ash said before he came out of the bushes. The second Growlithe saw Ash he immediately got into a defensive battle stance and growled baring his large sharp teeth.

Now that Ash was up close to Growlithe he could see that it was far larger than the Growlithes he used to play with back at Professor Oak's lab. If he had to gauge how big the Growlithe would be on all fours he'd have to say around 4 ½ feet.

Ash held up his hands to show he means no harm. "It's okay, I'm here to help." Ash said slowly and calmly to try and get the large Growlithe to trust him. The Growlithe stopped growling but it was clear it didn't trust him yet. "Don't worry, I have stuff in my bag to help get that trap off of you and make you feel all better." Ash said calmly as he reached into his bag and pulled out a super potion and bandages. The Growlithe still was hesitant about the human but it seemed to have good intentions. "I'm going to get closer okay?" Ash said. The Growlithe nodded his head and laid down on his stomach but kept a watchful eye on Ash. Ash slowly walked up and looked at the trap. He barely laid a finger on the trap before the Growlithe flinched in pain.

'This is going to be harder than I thought. If I try to take it off he starts to flinch in pain, I think I have something that can numb the area.' Ash thought to himself. He reached into his bag and began to rummage through it until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a numbing cream that his mom packed in his bag before he left. Ash turned to Growlithe and smiled, "This ointment will help numb that area, then I should be able to help get it off okay." Ash reassured the large puppy. Growlithe gave a short bark to show that he understood.

Ash unscrewed the top and gently applied a generous amount around the trap. "Alright we have to wait a minute or two before the ointment has a chance to kick in." Ash said while sitting next to Growlithe.

Ash suddenly heard a man scream and fall out of the bushes into the small clearing the two were in. Growlithe stood up and got into a defensive position again while trying to take as much pressure off of his injured paw as possible. Ash turned and saw the man twitching in pain. "Good job buddy, keep watching out okay." Ash called out. Ash got a roar in return. Ash got up and walked over to the man who was twitching.

The man was clearly in his late thirties or early forties but he was rather muscular and rather tall, around 6'3. He wore a black vest with no shirt underneath so he could show off his muscles, black camouflage pants, black boots, and a black headband. The man had a bag next to him that was tied up at the end to prevent whatever was in it from coming out. Ash narrowed his eyes as he realized he was looking at a Pokémon poacher.

The pokémon poacher twitched on the ground for a couple of seconds before realizing it was no use. "What the fuck hit me." The man said through his gritted teeth. "Did you set this trap?" Asked Ash with his eyes narrowed at the paralyzed man.

The man looked up at the voice and glared at Ash. "Who the fuck are you?" The man responded back with anger clear in his voice. "Don't worry about who I am, I asked you if you set this trap that this Growlithe is caught in." Asked Ash again with anger lacing his voice.

The poacher looked at the trap that Ash mentioned and a smile grew on his face. "Yea I set that trap. I heard that there was a massive Pokémon roaming around here and I knew that it would be worth big bucks. Now that I see it's a Growlithe I'm sure I can sell its coat for even more money." The man said in a cocky voice.

Ash was taken back in disgust by the man's disgusting actions and words. Ash was incredible tempted to kick the man in the face while he was down so he could feel a small glimpse of what Growlithe is feeling. "Do you realize the amount of pain you've inflicted on Growlithe?! Growlithe hasn't done a thing to you and yet you treat him like some object! Pokémon are meant to stand besides us and should be treated like family, How could you do such a disgusting thing?" Ash practically screamed at the man.

The man listened to what Ash had to say with a large toothy sinister smile. When Ash finished and the man started to let out a rather sinister laugh. "Do you honestly think I care about how that damn mutt feels? All I care about is making money, and right now you are getting in the way of that." The man said as he began to fight the paralysis again but this time he was slowly standing up. Once he was almost to his feet he was stuck with another Thunder Wave and was struck in the back of the head with an Iron Tail. The man fell back to the ground and lost consciousness. Dratini slid from behind the man and looked at the man with a fury that Ash never seen before. Dratini looked back to Ash and his eyes softened. "Thanks pal, I should probably call Officer Jenny and tell her about this." Ash said as he pulled out his pokégear and dialed the number.

Ash wait for the call to be answered and after about ten seconds someone picked up.

"Viridian City Police department, how can I help you?" A voice sounded said that Ash recognized to be the man at the front desk. "Hi, my name is Ash Ketchum and I've just ran into a Pokémon Poacher. We were walking when we heard a pokémon cry for help. We found the pokémon and were about to help him when the poacher made himself known. My Dratini and I have him subdued, I'm calling to see if you can send anyone to arrest him." Ash answered.

"Of course just give me your coordinates and we will send someone out as soon as possible." Answered the man. Ash went to the map function of the pokégear and gave the man his coordinates.

"Thank you, we will send someone as soon as we can. Is the Growlithe in need of immediate medical attention?" Asked the man. Ash looked back to the Growlithe and accessed Growlithes situation. "He has his paw caught in a trap but I think I can get it off and dress the wound. I think I'll be able to handle it." Ash answered. "Okay, help is on the way. Is there anything else we can help you with?" The man asked.

"No, that's it. Thank you." Ash said as he hung up. Ash turned to Growlithe. Growlithe limped towards Ash and began to lick him in the face. Growlithe was touched by the way Ash had defended him and stood up for him. Ash laughed at the puppy's show of affection. "Alright Alright! Let get this trap off of your paw and clean up the wound." Ash said as he laughed. Growlithe backed up and sat back down to let Ash help him. "The cream should've started working by now, let me just try-" Ash said as he was about to try and open the trap but Growlithe pulled away in pain just as Ash touched it. "I guess the ointment isn't strong enough huh?"Ash said to nobody in particular. Growlithe whined and sat back down.

Ash frowned and put his hands on his chin in wonder. Dratini slid up to Ash and coiled right next to him. Growlithe sat there waiting for Ash to come up with a solution.

A light bulb lit up in Ash's head and he stood up. "I got an idea, Merlin come give me a hand." He said as he released Merlin. 'You called young master?' Merlin said.

"Can you take that trap off of Growlithe's paw?" Ash asked. 'Of course young master.' Merlin answered as he turned around and his eyes glowed a bright blue. The trap was then encased in a blue light and slowly began to open and free Growlithe. Growlithe pulled his paw out of the trap as soon as there was enough room and immediately began to lick his paw. Merlin dropped the trap next to Ash and looked at the huge puppy. "Thanks Merlin, Do you want to stay out or do you want to go back in your ball?"

'I wish to stay out for some fresh air young master.' Merlin responded. "Alright" was all Ash responded with.

Ash walked back to the Growlithe and grabbed the bandages and the super potion he dropped earlier. "Ok, Growlithe this is going to sting for a little bit but it will make you feel a lot better." Ash warned. Growlithe looked Ash in the eyes and nodded. Ash put out his hand so Growlithe could place his paw in his hand and he can spray the wound. Ash began to spray the wound and Growlithe began to wince as it stung just as Ash had told him. Although it was burning he could feel the wound close slightly. After a short while Ash finished spraying the area and began to wrap up Growlithe's paw.

Once Ash finished wrapping it up he put everything back in his bag and stood up. "Alright we are all done here, make sure you watch out for poachers okay." Ash said as rubbed the top of Growlithe's head. Growlithe gave Ash a happy yip and licked his hand.

Merlin suddenly whipped around and got into battle position. "Are you Ash Ketchum?" Asked a voice behind Ash that caused everyone except Merlin to jump in surprise. Dratini, Merlin, and Growlithe all jumped in front of Ash ready to protect him. Ash recovered from his shock and took a look at the man and relaxed. "It's okay guys, he is from the league. Look at the symbol on his coat." Ash said as he pointed out the Pokémon league symbol on the mans chest. The pokémon relaxed as they realized that the man wasn't a threat. The man was average height, around 5'10, he had brown hair that ended just about his shoulders and hazel colored eyes. He had on a black coat with the Pokémon league symbol on it, black pants, and black dress shoes, and topped it off with a black fedora.

Next to the man was a powerful looking Alakazam. It had a long mustache that went to its knees, the shoulder pads looked like they had seen some action, and it's spoons looked like they were just polished.

"How did you guys get here so fast?" Ash asked curiously. The man chuckled and pat the Alakazam on the back softly. "The league has its way of traveling around as fast as possible, we have Alakazam trained to be able to teleport us where we need to go." The man answered.

Ashes opened his mouth in a 'Oh' motion in realization. This new knowledge brought a question to his mind, "You wouldn't happen to know any tips on how to get rid of the flash that comes with teleport?" Ash asked.

"That goes away with experience." The man said as he took a glance at Merlin. Merlin looked up at the Alakazam and floated to him. The two had a mental conversation for a couple of seconds before they cut it off and Merlin floated back to Ash's side.

"Anyways, where is this poacher you said to have immobilized?" The man asked. Ash narrowed his eyes and looked to the side where the poacher was lying unconscious. The man opened his eyes in slight shock. "Well well well, look who we have here." The man said as he crouched next to the poacher. "The league has been trying to get this guy for a while now. His name is Joseph Marrow. He has been involved in the black market for a long time, everytime we come close to getting him he manages to slip away somehow. How did you manager to catch him?" The man asked Ash.

"I had my Dratini hide in the bushes in case someone came into the clearing while I helped Growlithe here out of that trap." He said as he rubbed Growlithe and Dratini's heads. The both leaned into his touch. "Dratini must've sensed him coming and launched a Thunder Wave at him. Next thing I knew he landed in the clearing. He tried to get up but Dratini hit him with another Thunder Wave and used a weak Iron Tail to knock him out." Ash continued.

The man listened and smiled as Ash finished talking. "Well alright, the league thanks you. You're heading to Pewter next right?" The man asked. Ash nodded. "You should expect a package from the league as a reward. Good ole Joseph here had a reward for whoever caught him and brought him in." Ash smiled at the thought of getting another reward. The man pulled out a pair of handcuffs and put them on Joseph. "Alright, we should be on our way." The man said as he nodded to Alakazam. Ash realized that he never got the mans name and was about to ask but the three teleported away before he had the chance to ask.

Ash and the Pokémon stood in the clearing by themselves for a split second before they turned to the Growlithe. "Like I said we should start heading out, try to stay safe okay." Ash said as he turned to walk away, or at least before he tried before Growlithe bit his pants and pulled him towards him. Ash was surprised by the sudden pull. He turned to Growlithe in wonder. "What's up?" He Asked Growlithe.

'He wishes to come with you young master.' Merlin told Ash. Ash looked at Growlithe and asked "Do you want to come with me?". Growlithe barked happily and tackled Ash and licked his face. Ash laughed as the Growlithe licked him. "Okay okay!" Ash said as he laughed. Growlithe got off of Ash and sat down. Ash sat up and pulled out a pokéball from his waist. "I have to let you know before I catch you that I am on a journey to be the best Pokémon master the world has ever seen. In order to do that I will need the strongest pokémon by my side, so we will train very hard and have a lot of tough battles. Do you think that you can handle it?" Ash asked seriously. Growlithe smiled and a fire lit in his eyes. Growlithe gave a bark that was the equivalent to an affirmative.

"Alright, welcome to the family." Ash said as he tapped the pokéball on Growlithe's chest. The ball instantly dinged in success. The pokédex then lit up and prove Growlithe's data.

 **Growlithe, the Puppy Pokémon. While loyal to its master, the Growlithe will drive away enemies by barking and biting.**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Moves known: Bite, Ember, Odor Sleuth, Roar, Leer**

 **Size: Royal**

 **Egg Moves: Heat Wave, Close Combat, Fire Spin**

 **Abilities: Flash Fire, Justified (Hidden Ability)**

Ash whistled at Growlithe's pokédex information. "We got a new teammate!" Ash said with a big toothy smile. Ash let Growlithe out and Growlithe shook his fur and looked at Ash and grinned. "Do you want a nickname?" Ash asked. Growlithe thought about it before he shook his head. Ash stood up and faced his team. "Alright does anyone want to go into their ball?" Ash asked. Merlin nodded and was returned. Growlithe shook his head, he wanted to get to know Ash better. Dratini coiled up around Ash as usual and was back in his usual position. " Okay, let's get moving."

* * *

Ash and his Pokémon had lunch, that's when Ash realized that having a royal sized pokémon come with pros and cons. They had advantages in battle, but they required more energy. Which in turn required more food. Ash whitened at how much food Growlithe ate. Growlithe ate twice as much Dratini did, and Dratini was a borderline glutton. If this kept up Ash would run out of food to feed Growlithe in two days.

* * *

That night when all the pokémon was asleep in their ball except Dratini, Ash was making notes for everyone's progress while they were training. He was happy with Merlin and Dratini's progress, Merlin's endurance was slowly increasing and the flash was still bright but it was starting to get smaller. His control over his telekinesis was good but he still needed work on how much he could lift. The more he lifts the more trouble he has controlling it. That's a problem that will be fixed as he evolves.

Dratini was taking his training seriously and the results were showing. His moves were powerful and if they hit they would do a lot of damage. The only problem was that they took too long to charge up. He isn't the fastest pokémon either so he has been working on agility as of late. He has glimpses of entering the agility but he can't maintain it. Once Dratini gets faster and learns to charge his attacks faster then he will be a force to be reckoned with.

From what he saw from the training that they did right before they went to sleep, Growlithe had incredibly strong jaws which made his Bite very strong, and a decent ember. Ash knew that since Growlithe will only get larger he won't be able to dodge attacks as well as Merlin or Dratini, so he will need to either be able to take hits or run fast enough to make them miss. Ash decided that he wanted Growlithe to work on speed for now. He will work on endurance later.

Ash didn't want to teach his Pokémon any more new moves until they completely master all of the moves that they currently know.

After Ash finished writing everything in his pokégears journal, he started to look through the pokédex to find out more about Growlithe as a species. He learned that Growlithe has a inner fire that is right next to its stomach that is responsible for creating its fire. Since Growlithe is a royal size pokémon, his inner fire is supposed to be very large. In other words he will have a lot of fire at his disposal. Ash got excited at the plans he has set for his team. All that was left is to put it into action.

* * *

Early the next morning Ash was up and ready to train his team. He had already packed all of his belongings and walked until he found a good sized clearing that he could use for training. Once he found one that he deemed was appropriate he released everyone and began to brief them on what they would be working on.

"Dratini I want you to keep working on agility, so do some laps around the clearing, but I want you to focus. Once you slip into Agility I want you to remember the feeling. It should get easier that way."

"Merlin, let's keep working on your control. I know that we have been working on it a lot but it's really important that you have it down. Your psychic powers are increasing everyday but once you evolve it will become so much stronger than you are now, that's why I want you to work in control. After awhile we will work on your endurance and accuracy with teleport."

"Growlithe, I'll be focusing on you for the majority of this session so I can see where you need to improve at. Dratini and Merlin, go ahead and get started." The pokémon nodded and went to work.

Ash walked over to Growlithe and bent over a little so he was face to face with the puppy. "Alright I want you to warm up with three laps around the clearing as a simple jog. After that I want five laps running full speed." Ash instructed. Growlithe yipped and got to work.

Ash was pleasantly surprised when he saw Growlithe run. Growlithe had long graceful strides that made it look like he wasn't running fast but he was in fact moving very quickly. Growlithe was done with the laps after about 10 minutes.

"Alright, so yesterday I noticed that your ember can use some work." Ash said while scanning the area for a boulder he could use. Once Ash found one he led Growlithe over. "I want you to try and melt this rock with your ember. If we can get your fire attacks hotter then we will have a better chance of burning your opponents." Ash explained. Growlithe nodded and faced the rock and began to shoot embers at the boulder

While Growlithe was trying to melt the boulder Ash went to check on the rest of his team. Dratini was currently focusing rather hard so he decided to check on him later. He walked to Merlin who was spinning 14 good sized rocks in a circle. "Merlin, your control is looking good. Let's move to teleporting now." Ash said. 'Your praise is appreciated young master.' Merlin thanked.

"I want you to teleport to each marker in this clearing that I am going to set up, I know that you aren't exactly accurate about where you appear at yet, but this exercise should help that." Ash explained.

Ash walked around the clearing and placed rocks around randomly. In total there were about 7 different rocks that he wanted Merlin to teleport to. He walked back to Merlin and showed him where the markers were. "I want you to teleport to each of these rocks. Take your time, make sure that you are as accurate as possible. The last thing we need is you accidentally teleporting in front of an attack. Do this for as long as you can. When you get tired take a break and go back when you feel like you are ready." Ash instructed.

'As you wish' Merlin said before he teleported to one of the rocks.

Ash smiled at the hard work that his team was putting in. He was proud to call each and every one of them his teammate. After he made sure Merlin and Growlithe was doing their training efficiently he went to Dratini to check on him.

"Dratini!" He called out. Dratini zoomed over and stopped right in front of Ash. "How is Agility going?" Ash asked curiously. Dratini smiled and nodded his head. "Let me see what you got then." Ash said with a big smile.

Dratini closed his eyes focused. After a couple of seconds Dratini had a slight pink glow encase him and he sped off to a rock and sped back. Ash was impressed, his only problem was how long it takes him to use the move. "Great job pal! Let's try and shorten the time it takes to use the move so we can use it instantly." Ash said. Dratini got a determined look on his face and nodded.

* * *

After the morning training session the group relaxed and ate the breakfast Ash cooked. Growlithe was in love with Ash's cooking as it was a step up from the scraps and random berries that he ate as a wild pokémon.

After breakfast Ash cleaned up the area and returned Merlin and Growlithe and started to finish the trek to Pewter. After walking for a while Ash ran into a trainer dressed in a samurai armor.

"You there, are you Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town?" Asked the boy. "It depends who's asking." Ash responded.

"So you are!" The boy said as he pulled out his razor sharp katana and pointed it in Ash's direction. Dratini uncoiled from Ash and broke the sword in half with Iron Tail. Dratini landed and sent death glares at the samurai for pointing a sword at his pseudo-brother. "What the hell was that?!" Ash said angrily.

"My sword!" The samurai said completely disregarding an angry Dragon and its trainer in front of him. "Grrr you're going to pay for that, I challenge you to a 2-2 battle. If I win you have to pay for a new sword." The samurai said in anger. "That's fine with me, but if I win you have to give me the same amount your sword cost" Ash retorted. Dratini glared at the Samurai one more time before turning to slither back to Ash.

"Deal, get ready to pay for my sword." The samurai said as he sent out his first pokémon. "Let's crush this guy, let's go Metapod!" The boy said as he sent out a green cocoon with two big eyes.

Ash saw the Metapod and mentally went over who he wanted to use. He knew that Growlithe and Dratini would win this fight easily and that only left one pokémon.

"Let's go Merlin!" Ash said as he released his psychic type.

Merlin was released and immediately began to float and waited for the battle to begin.

"I'll take the first move!" The samurai called out. "Metapod use Harden followed by String Shot."

"Meeeta" called out Metapod as his green layer flashed a silver color for a second and returned to its green color. Metapod then spat out a sticky substance from its mouth aimed at Merlin. "Quick use teleport!"

Ash called out.

Merlin vanished before he was hit and appeared behind Metapod. "Use your telekinesis to pick him up and slam him into the ground!" Ash called.

'As you wish.' Merlin said before encasing the Metapod in a blue aura and began to slam him into the ground. "Oh no! Metapod please use String Shot to get out of there!" Right as Metapod was about to get slammed again it shot its String Shot at a tree branch and was trying to pull itself out of the telekinetic hold. "No you don't, Merlin cut the string!" Ash said. Merlin teleported again but he was a foot or two away from the string so he floated the rest of the way.

When Merlin teleported he was forced to release his telekinetic hold on Metapod which caused Metapod to start flying towards the tree branch at a rapid pace. Merlin used his claw to quickly cut the string and he felt something coming at him at a rapid pace so he teleported just as Metapod was about to slam into Merlin.

"Metapod turn and use String Shot on the ground and use Tackle." The samurai called. Metapod turned in midair and shot the Sting Shot at the ground and began flying towards the ground.

'If we keep doing this then it'll take all day. I need to find a way to stop them from shooting the string shot and flying all over the place.' Ash thought.

'I have a plan that will work young master if you are willing to give it a try.' Merlin told Ash. 'If you can think of something then please do it.' Ash responded.

As Metapod was flying towards the ground Merlin caught Metapod in his telekinetic hold again and began to twist the Metapod in its own string shot which would prevent Metapod from shooting its String Shot. Merlin then pulled Metapod backwards again and caused the remaining String Shot to have great tension. Merlin let go of his telekinetic hold and Metapods String Shot sent Metapod crashing into the ground and kicked up some dust.

When the dust cleared Metapod laid there with swirls for eyes.

"Great job Merlin! Your plan worked great! Take a good rest." Ash said as he returned Merlin. Dratini trilled in happiness for his teammate.

"Grrrr you got lucky!" The samurai said as he returned his Metapod. "You won't beat my next pokémon! Let's crush them!" The samurai said as he sent out his next Pokémon.

Ash recognized this pokémon as Pinser. Pinser was a stag beetle that stood on its two feet. It has two ferocious looking pinchers on top of its head and two skinny arms that ended with three claws.

Ash knew who he wanted to use. "Let's go Growlithe!" Ash said as he released the royal pokémon. Growlithe came out and barked with excitement as he got into battle position. "Quick Pinser get close and use Vicegrip!" The samurai yelled angrily. Ash's eyes widened, "Don't let him get close! Keep him at distance with ember!" Ash warned.

Pinser began to run at Growlithe so he could grab him with his pinchers, but Growlithe started shooting small fireballs at Pinser to keep him away. "Pinser dodge and keep going!" Samurai yelled.

"Growlithe keep shooting and when you see an opportunity get in for bite." Ash said calmly. Growlithe yipped in understanding. Growlithe began to use his superior speed to run circles around Pinser while shooting embers. Pinser tried to chase after Growlithe but he couldn't catch him. Growlithe got behind Pinser and shot an ember at Pinser's back and landed. Pinser roared in pain and when it turned around Growlithe was already in its face. Growlithe tackled Pinser to the ground and used bite.

"Use Ember to finish him while you have him pinned down!"

"Not so fast! Use Brick Break!" Samurai yelled. While Growlithe was gathering the fire in his mouth Pinser swung his glowing fist into the side of Growlithe and knocked him off of him. Pinser jumped to his feet and saw the opportunity to use Vicegrip while Growlithe was down and seized it. Pinser ran up to Growlithe and grabbed him with its pinchers and lifted the puppy off of the ground. Growlithe whined in pain as he was being squeezed tightly.

"Are you okay?" Ash Asked worriedly. Growlithe gave a weakened bark. "That's my boy! While it's close use Ember and top it off with Bite!" Ash instructed.

Growlithe gathered the fire and shot it at the ground in front of Pinser which caused Pinser to let go of Growlithe out of surprise. Growlithe landed on his feet and shot another Ember in Pinsers face which caused Pinser to stagger. Growlithe lunged and jumped on Pinser and finished the battle with Bite.

Growlithe let go of Pinser and stepped back to see swirls in the pokémons eyes.

"Alright! Great job bud, we did it!" Ash said as he ran up to Growlithe and gave him a hug. Growlithe barked in happiness. Dratini used the end of his tail to ruffle the top of Growlithe's hair to congratulate his teammate. Ash let go of Growlithe and stood up to return Growlithe. Ash looked at Merlin and Growlithe's pokéball and smiled. "Thank you so much." He said to both of their pokéball. He felt both of their balls wiggle a bit.

Ash and Dratini both looked at the samurai expectantly. Samurai has already returned Pinser and was pulled out his pokédex and began to type on it. He pointed it to Ash's pokédex and put it away. Ash's pokédex lit up and beeped, Ash pulled his pokédex out and saw that money had been added to his account. "Next time we will beat you." The samurai said as he walked past Ash into the forest.

* * *

After the battle with Samurai, Ash and his team traveled for the rest of the day. The closer he got to the city he started to see more trainers. He battled almost every trainer he saw and won all of them.

He was beginning to get a feel for how each member of his team liked to battle. Growlithe likes to stay on the move and attack as much as he can, Dratini likes to overpower his opponents and beat them down, and Merlin likes to use evasion and strategy to beat his opponents.

A couple of hours after lunch Ash and his team finally made it out of Viridian Forest. They walked for about thirty minutes before they could see Pewter City. It was clearly more populated than Pallet Town but it was smaller than Viridian. The street lights were beginning to light and the light outside of people houses were turning on. Ash could faintly see a building with a tan colored roof and boulders all around the base of the building. Ash assumed that was the gym. Ash looked a little more and saw a building with a red roof with a glowing pokéball on the front of the roof. Ash instant recognized it as the Pokémon center.

"We should get a move on so we can make it to the Pokémon center before it gets too dark." Ash told Dratini. Dratini gave a sleepy nod and laid his head back on Ash's shoulder and began to sleep.

Ash laughed and began his trek to Pewter City.

* * *

 **Sorry it took so long to update, I forgot how much time school takes from me lol. I would like to have an update once or twice a month but if it doesn't happen then you can expect about three chapters the following month. Anyways, Ash will be taking on Brock next chapter to try and earn his boulder badge. Ash has been on a roll lately, let's see if he can keep his streak up. Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! When I first started this I didn't expect it to get as much love as it getting, we just passed 70 followers! The support is amazing! Leaving reviews are such a help so I know how I can make my story better for you guys. In this chapter Ash takes on Brock to try and attemlts to get his first badge. Let's get into the chapter!**

* * *

Ash had finally arrived at Pewter City and was navigating his way towards the Pokémon center. Ash had his pokégear out so he could find his destination quicker. After five minutes he eventually found the Pokémon center. He walked inside and saw that this Pokémon center was a bit smaller than the Pokémon center in Viridian.

Ash walked up to the front desk where a Nurse Joy was at typing in her computer. She glanced up and saw Ash and smiled sweetly. "Hello Ash!" Nurse Joy said with a smile.

Ash was a little surprised when he heard Nurse Joy call him by his name even though he never met her before. "Hello?" Ash replied in almost a question like manner.

"My sister in Viridian City told all of us how you helped save the Pokémon center a little while back, we are all very grateful for helping our family!" Nurse Joy said with a smile.

"Oh it's no problem, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing." Ash said with a toothy grin and a hand behind his head. Dratini woke up briefly at the sound of Team Rockets names being said. Once he realized they weren't there he went back to sleep on Ash's shoulder.

Ash smiled at his lazy partner. He looked back at Nurse Joy and asked to rent a room for a couple of days and to give his Pokémon a check up. Nurse Joy happily obliged and handed Ash a room key. She then took his Pokémon and gave them to a Chaney to give them a check up. Ash thanked her and walked to the video phones in the corner of the Pokémon center. There was a small line for the phones but thankfully the calls didn't last long.

Ash eventually got to the front and decided to call his mother first.

Ash sat down in front of the screen and dialed the number to his mom's restaurant since it was only about five o'clock and her restaurant didn't close until nine.

Ash waited for a couple of seconds before the screen came to life and someone answered. "Delia's diner how can I help you?" Answered a girl who looked to be around 20 years old. She had long blonde hair that was pulled into a ponytail, deep brown eyes, and a small amount of makeup on her face.

"Hey Julie! Is my mom around?" Ash asked

"Hey Ash, she is in her office right now, I'll let her know you're on the phone." Julie said.

"Thanks Julie!" Ash thanked

Ash wait for another thirty seconds or so before his mother's face came in front of the video phone."Hey Ashy! How are you?" Delia asked.

"I'm great mom, I just made it to Pewter City!" Ash said excitedly.

"That's great honey! Have you been staying safe?" Delia Asked.

"Of course! Dratini, Merlin, and Growlithe make sure that nothing happens to me." Ash said happily.

"Growlithe?" Delia questioned.

"Yea I caught him in Viridian Forest. He is great! He is a Royal size." Ash said with a toothy grin.

Delia's eyes widen slightly at the revelation of how big Growlithe is. "Oh my! He is going to be big when he is fully grown." Delia said.

"Yea I know, he eats a ton too. I don't know how I can afford to feed him with how much he eats." Ash said with concern.

"You'll figure it out sweetie." Delia said with a smile.

"I know mom. Tomorrow we are going to fight the gym, I really think that we can beat Brock." Ash said with a determined fire in his eyes.

"I know you'll do just fine! I have to go sweetie. The early dinner birds are coming in. Be safe honey, I love you! Good luck on your Gym battle tomorrow!" Delia said.

"Okay mom, I love you too!" Ash said as the connection was cut off. Ash dialed the number to Professor Oak's lab next and waited.

After a minute someone answered. "Professor Oak's lab this is Daisy how can I - " Daisy started before she saw who it was.

"Hey Ash! How are you?" Daisy asked sweetly.

"Hey Daisy I'm good! Is Professor Oak around?" Ash asked.

"Yea, he is let me grab him for you." Daisy said as she walked off to grab her grandfather.

While Ash was waiting for Professor Oak, Nurse Joy called his name on the intercom telling him his pokémon were ready. Ash quickly ran and got his Pokémon and made it back before Professor Oak was on screen. Dratini released himself and instantly coiled around Ash as usual.

"Ash my boy how are you?" Professor Oak said as he appeared on the screen.

"I'm good Professor Oak." Ash answered.

"That's good, Dratini looks quite healthy. His scales are shining rather nicely. I can tell you've been taking good care of him." The professor observed.

Dratini looked up and trilled happily at the compliment

"I recently caught a Royal sized Growlithe and he is eating like crazy. I was wondering if that's normal?" Ash told the professor.

Professor Oak whistled at the revelation. "Well my boy, that is definitely normal. Royal sized pokémon are very rare and because of how big they are they require a lot more food than normal pokémon. A good solution would be to ask for Expo-Pokéfood at the pokémart. Expo-Pokéfood was made specifically for larger pokémon so that they could get full off of normal sized meal. It was developed by Silph co." Professor Oak informed Ash.

"That's incredibly helpful Professor Oak, thanks!" Ash said gratefully.

"No problem Ash. If you don't mind could you release Growlithe so I can take a look at him." Professor Oak requested.

"Sure, come on out bud!" Ash said as he released the large fire puppy. Growlithe materialized and barked happily. Growlithe looked at his trainer and immediately pounced on Ash. Growlithe began licking his face as usual which caused Ash to go into a laughing fit.

"Alright, Alright! You win!" Ash said in between breaths. Growlithe got off of Ash and sat loyally next to Ash.

Professor Oak's eyes widened at the size of the young puppy. "Oh my.." Professor Oak started.

That caught Ash's attention and he looked back toward Professor Oak. "That's quite the Growlithe you have there Ash, I can only imagine how big he is going to be when he is an Arcanine." Professor Oak said.

Growlithe gave a happy bark at the thought of becoming an Arcanine.

"Next time you come back to the lab I'd be honored if you would let me examine him." Professor Oak said with a smile.

"Of course Professor!" Ash answered with a smile. "By the way, I caught an Abra and I was wondering if you had any tips on how to train him."

Professor Oak let a smile come upon his face.

"The Abra line are a force to be reckoned with when trained right. How have you been training your Abra?" Professor Oak asked so he could get an idea on how Ash plans on battling with Abra.

"So far I have him working on increasing the amount of things he can lift with his telekinesis and having control over its movements."

"I also have him working on his teleportation. I notice that everytime he teleport a flash appears where he is about to appear." Ash answered.

"Mm, it sounds like you're doing a good job of training him, something that I would suggest is when Abra evolves make sure to teach him reflect and light screen. As you know the Abra line can't take hits very well, so giving him some defense would help tremendously." Professor Oak said.

"Thanks Professor! I'll make sure to do that." Ash said.

"Good, I have to go my boy, the Tofu is done." Professor Oak said as the timer went off in the background.

"Okay Professor, i'll talk to you later!" Ash said as the connection cut off.

Ash looked towards Dratini and Growlithe, "Alright guys let's go outside and get some training done. We need to do some fine tuning before we challenge Brock tomorrow."

* * *

It's the next morning and Ash was standing outside of the gym door. The training session last night was a success in Ash's opinion. Dratini had agility down for the most part.

Ash left his pokémon with Nurse Joy last night to make sure that they were battle ready for the gym.

Ash steeled himself and pushed the doors open. He walked into the gym and it was almost pitch black.

Ash blinked his eyes and looked around to try and get used to the dark room. "Can you see anything bud?" Ash asked.

Dratini trilled in conformation and looked ahead to what he saw.

A loud voice suddenly rang out before and nearly caused Ash to jump out of his skin. "Welcome to Pewter City's gym. What can I do for you?" Asked the voice.

"I'm here for a gym battle." Ash said confidently although he still couldn't see who he was talking to. Suddenly Ash was blinded when all the lights in the room turned on.

A darker skinned man who stood around 6'2 was sitting on a boulder in the middle of the battlefield. Now that Ash could actually see, the whole battlefield was covered rocks if different sizes.

The man hopped down from the boulder with ease. The man was wearing khaki pants, an orange t-shirt, a green vest with pockets all over it and black and white shoes.

"My name is Brock and I'm the Pewter City gym leader. How many badges do you currently have?" Brock asked.

"This will be my first." Ash said confidently.

"Very well, I'll use my no-badge team." Brock said as he walked to a back wall and entered a code on the pad that was on the wall. A small section opened and two pokéballs were sitting on a trey.

"This will be a two-on-two battle. I see you have your Dratini but do you have at least one more?" Brock questioned.

"Yes I do." Ash replied.

"Good, take your place in the challengers box and we can get this started." Brock said with a smile on his face.

A referee walked out and stood in the referees box. "This will be a two-on-two battle for the Boulder badge. This battle is between the Gym leader Brock and…."

"What's your name and where are you from kid?" The referee asked.

"Ash Ketchum and I'm from Pallet Town." Ash answered.

"Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. The battle will be over when the pokémon is unable to battle anymore. The challenger will send out his Pokémon first." The referee announced.

Ash thought long and hard about who he would use for the gym battle last night. Eventually he figured it out.

"Let's go Growlithe!" Ash said as he sent out the fire puppy.

Growlithe landed on the field and looked around to see where he was. "This is our first gym battle. Are you ready?" Ash asked with a smile.

Growlithe gave a happy bark and got into battle position. Ash smiled at his Pokémon's enthusiasm.

"That's quite the Growlithe you have there. He is by far the biggest Growlithe that I've ever seen. He will be a monster when he evolves." Brock said impressed.

"But that doesn't mean that we won't give it our all! Let's rock and roll Geodude!" Brock said as he released a floating rock with a face and two arms. Ash saw the pokémon and pulled out his pokédex.

 **Geodude, the Rock Pokémon. Geodude has incredibly high defensive power, making it virtually resistant to any physical attacks.**

"That's Alright we are still going to win, right Growlithe!" Growlithe barked and crouched down ready to attack on command.

The referee looked at both pokémon and decided they were both fit for battle. "The battle between Growlithe and Geodude will now begin!"

Let's start with Ember!" Ash said as he pointed to Growlithe. Growlithe built up a fireball in his mouth and launched it towards the rock pokémon.

"Geodude you know what to do." Brock said calmly.

Geodude grunted and created a barrier of rocks around him to block the incoming Ember. Geodude charged his fist in a white energy and slammed the into the barrier causing them to break and shoot towards Growlithe.

"Get out of there Growlithe! Use bite when you get the chance." Ash said worriedly.

Growlithe took off to try and dodge the incoming rocks that were on the way to hit him. The majority of the rocks missed but some of the rocks nailed Growlithe causing some damage.

Growlithe made a sharp turn and bolted towards the Geodude despite having to take all the rocks that were being sent his way. Geodude was slightly surprised at Growlithe diving straight in but continued to use Mega Punch on the rocks.

Growlithe jumped and pounced Geodude causing him to stop using Mega Punch. Growlithe had Geodude pinned underneath him. Growlithe closed in used a powerful Bite on Geodude.

"Quick Geodude use Mega Punch to get him off of you." Brock shouted.

"Use Ember while you have him in point blank range!" Ash said.

While biting Geodude, Growlithe charged an Ember attack and launched it on Geodude. Geodude screamed in pain but he began to fight through the pain of being bit and having Ember used on him and used Mega Punch on Growlithe's side causing him to fly off of him. Once Geodude was finally free he suddenly burst into a small fit of flames signifying that he was burned.

Brock grit his teeth because of Geodude burn. "Use Rock Tomb and trap him." Brock commanded.

Geodude roared and once again a barrier of rocks appeared but this time it surrounded Growlithe leaving him nowhere to escape.

"Use Rock Throw!" Brock shouted. Geodude crawled **(or would he float? I honestly don't know how that whole thing would work out lol)** on top of the rocks and rocks suddenly appeared around him and he began to pelt Growlithe ruthlessly.

'I can't just let Growlithe stay trapped in there. I have to figure out how to get out of there…' Ash thought as he tries to figure out a way to get Growlithe out of his predicament. Then suddenly a light bulb went off in his head.

"Quick Growlithe Use Roar!" Ash shouted.

Growlithe took a deep breathe as he was getting pelted by Rock Throw and let out a ferocious Roar that sent Geodude back to his pokéball on Brock's waist.

Ash let out a sigh of relief, he got out of that situation but he still had to prepare for his Brock's next pokémon.

"Gym leader Brock's pokémon has been forcefully removed from the battle, however due to league rules Geodude is still able to participate in this battle. Gym leader Brock please release your final pokémon" the referee announced.

"That was clever, but let's see if you can handle my next pokémon!" Brock said as he released his next pokémon.

The pokémon That was released gave a roar that rocked Ash to his bones. The pokémon was a rock serpent and from Ash's perspective it looked to be around twenty feet long.

Ash pulled out his pokédex to get more information on the pokémon.

 **Onix, the Rock Snake Pokémon. It tunnels through the ground which shakes when it raises its thunderous roar. It can move the ground at fifty miles per hour.**

"Onix here usually stops trainers in their tracks." Brock said with a smile on his face.

"Well we aren't normal are we bud!" Ash said with a determined smile on his face. Growlithe barked in conformation and jumped from boulder to boulder until he was out of the barrier of rocks that he was previously trapped in.

"The battle between Growlithe and Onix will now begin." The referee said.

"Growlithe Use Leer!" Ash shouted.

Growlithe growled and narrowed his eyes and a mysterious glint showed his his eyes. Onix saw this and slightly backed away from Growlithe.

"Onix Use Rock Polish!" Brock shouted.

Onix gave a loud roar and began to glow white for a brief second before a small layer broke off of him. From Ash's view it looked like Onix was smiling at Growlithe as if it knew what the outcome of the battle would be.

"Let's get in there with Ember and when you get close use Bite!" Ash shouted.

"Dodge and use wrap." Brock said with a smile.

Growlithe began to run around the battlefield in between rocks firing Embers at Onix trying his best to find an opening. Onix was dodging as many of the Embers as it could but a couple managed to slide in and hit him.

Growlithe shot an Ember at Onix's face and it hit before Onix had the opportunity to dodge. The Ember caused Onix to stagger back slightly giving Growlithe the chance he needed to run in for a Bite.

Growlithe ran in and jumped to attack but Onix suddenly shot its tail around Growlithe's body effectively immobilizing him.

Onix began to squeeze tightly and Growlithe started to howl in agony. He started to struggle and try to slip out of Onix's grip but to no avail.

"Give it up Ash, forefeit. There is no way that you can get out of this one." Brock said confidently.

'What can I do… he can't use bite because of the way that Onix has him wrapped up. He can use Ember but it won't work because they aren't strong enough to hurt Onix.. or are theyI?' Ash thought. Then Ash decided to test a theory.

"Growlithe use Ember on yourself!" Ash shouted.

"Huh?" Was all Brock said before he saw why the command was given.

Growlithe immediately charged an Ember and shot it straight down and it hit himself. The fire was absorbed into Growlithe and Growlithe gained a little more energy.

"Try Ember again!" Ash shouted hoping that his theory would work.

Growlithe charged an Ember and shot it but this time the fireball was noticeably bigger than his previous one. The Ember hit Onix right between the eyes and caused Onix to lossen his grip long enough for Growlithe to wiggle out and safely get back to Ash's side of the field.

"That was a nice little strategy, but it won't help beat Onix. Rock Polish one more time followed with Tackle." Brock said.

Onix glowed white once more and another small layer came off of the serpent. Onix then dove in face first towards Growlithe much faster than before. The Tackle attack landed and sent Growlithe flying once again.

Ash knew that although Growlithe is a Royale size and can take more attacks than a normal pokémon he won't last much longer if he takes another one of those Tackle attacks.

"Are you okay Growlithe?!" Ash screamed towards Growlithe.

Growlithe struggled to get up but got up nonetheless. Growlithe limped back in front of Ash ready for more but clearly on his last legs.

"Let's take this Onix down bud! Let's play some hide and seek, run behind the rocks and use Ember. Make sure to keep moving so he can't guess where you are coming from." Ash said.

Growlithe began to run behind rocks and would shoot an Ember at Onix to gradually deal damage. The Embers were still bigger than normal thanks to Ash's theory so they were doing more damage than usual.

"Try to dodge them Onix, and when you find him get with Wrap and finish him." Brock shouted.

Onix was doing his best to dodge them but since he didn't know where Growlithe was he couldn't dodge every ember.

Onix began to dodge and wait, he was trying to time when and where Growlithe would run to next and eventually he found Growlithe, but by the time he found him he was already on him.

Growlithe ran up to Onix and began to run up Onix's body and used Bite on the spike on Onix's head. It caused Onix to roar in pain and flail around trying to shake Growlithe off.

"Use Ember while you have him!" Ash shouted.

"Use Tackle, crush him under the rocks!" Brock shouted in worry.

Growlithe once again charged an Ember and was about to shoot it until Onix used Tackle and sent Growlithe through a boulder.

A cloud of dust surrounded the battlefield. For about thirty seconds the dust covered the field leaving either side unable to see the result of the battle. After the dust cleared it was clear to see who won the battle.

"Growlithe is unable to battle. Onix is the winner! Challenger Ash please return your pokémon and send out your final okémon." The referee announced.

Ash hung his head slightly and returned Growlithe. "Thank you for the battle, we won't let your effort go to waste." Ash said with a gloomy tone.

Ash put Growlithe's pokéball back on his belt and got ready for his next battle. He looked to his shoulder and smiled.

"Are you ready?" He Asked Dratini. Dratini gave a devilish grin and slid off of Ash's shoulder and slithered onto the battlefield.

"The battle between Dratini and Onix will now begin."

"Use Agility!" Ash called out.

"Use Rock Tomb! Let's trap him!" Brock called out.

Dratini closed his eyes to focus for a couple of seconds before suddenly taking off and fast speeds. Onix tried to trap him but Dratini was moving too fast to catch.

"Keep moving and use Dragon Rage!" As called out.

"Use Dragonbreath!" Brock called out.

Onix roared and started launching Dragonbreath's at the speeding Dratini.

Dratini dashed around the battlefield dodging the incoming Dragonbreath's and started charging a Dragon Rage in his mouth before finding an opening and launched it with perfect aim hitting Onix on the side of its head causing him to fall over monetarily.

"Quick use Iron Tail and finish this!" Ash called.

Dratini made a beeline straight for Onix and covered his tail in a metallic energy and swung it straight for Onix's head.

"Dodge Onix!" Brock called desperately but unfortunately it was too late.

Dratini closed in and slammed his Iron Tail onto Onix head effectively knocking Onix unconscious.

"Onix is unable to battle, the winner is Dratini. Gym leader Broc, please return your pokémon and send out your final pokémon." The referee announced.

"Let's finish this Geodude!" Brock said as he sent back out the battle worn Geodude.

Geodude appeared and immediately was taken over with a brief flash of fire. His burn from fighting Growlithe was still in effect.

Geodude got back into battle position ready to battle more.

"The battle between Geodude and Dratini will now begin!" The referee announced.

Dratini closed his eyes and used agility again to boost his already increased speed. Dratini's eyes glowed blue and a whirl of wind appeared and formed into a Twister.

"Use Rock throw to stop his Twister" Brock called out but to his dismay Dratini's Twister was already formed and making its way to Geodude.

"Use Rock Tomb to shield yourself!" Brock called out.

Geodude roared and began to summon rocks around him to shield him, but before he finished he ignited in flames again leaving an opening for the twister to suck him in.

Geodude began to scream as the dragon type energy began to torture the rock type.

The twister lasted for about thirty seconds before it died out and sent Geodude soaring towards the ground.

Geodude landed with a loud thud. Everyone was silent and was waiting to see if Geodude would get up.

After a minute the referee made his call.

"Geodude is una-" the referee started before Geodude started to shakily get back up.

"Geodude are you okay?" Brock asked with a voice laced with worry.

Geodude looked at Brock and smiled as he began to glow white and doubled in size. He also grew a second pair of arms and grew legs.

After the evolution a Graveler appeared and gave a new loud roar.

Ash pulled out his pokédex and scanned the newly evolved Graveler.

 **Graveler grows by feeding on rocks. Apparently, it prefers to eat rocks that are covered in moss. This Pokémon eats its way through a ton of rocks on a daily basis.**

Ash groaned internally, his first gym battle and his opponents pokémon evolves.

"I hope you're ready Ash because we definitely aren't losing now!" Brock said confidently.

"We won't lose either ain't that right Dratini!" Ash called back.

Dratini gave a roar of agreement and got ready for battle again.

"Use Rock slide!" Brock shouted.

Geodude creates a number of decent sized rocks and sent them falling at Dratini.

Dratini tried his best to dodge with his increased speed but he was still pelted by a rock or two.

"Use Iron Tail!" Ash shouted.

Dratini rushed in and swung its metallic tail at Graveler but Graveler charged a Mega Punch and and countered it. With Gravelers other hands he charged up more Mega Punches and swung them at Dratini effectively sending Dratini across the field.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked.

Dratini got up slightly wobbly but nodded nonetheless.

"Good! Use twister again!" Ash shouted.

"Use Rock Tomb" Brock shouted.

Graveler encased himself in a barrier of rocks allowing him to hide from the Twister.

"Mega Punch, launch those rocks back at him!" Brock shouted.

"Use Iron Tail to deflect them!" Ash countered.

Graveler began to ouch the surrounding boulders but thanks to Dratini using Agility twice he was able to keep up with all four of Gravelers arms and deflect all off the rocks being launched at him.

"Use Rollout!" Brock shouted.

Graveler tucked himself into a ball and began speeding towards Dratini. However, Graveler was too slow and missed him. He turned around and started rolling towards Dratini again but missed once again.

This time when Graveler was heading back towards Dratini he actually hit Dratini.

'How do I stop this Rollout? Dratini can't take a hit like that. If only I taught him a water type move.' Ash thought. Ash once again had a lightbulb go off in his head and started his plan of attack.

"Dratini, I need you to trust me. Use Thunder Wave straight up!" Ash called out.

Dratini seems confused by his trainers call but he trust his trainer with his life so he shot the Thunder Wave into the ceiling.

There was a small spark in the ceilings and suddenly water started pouring down all over the place causing everyone to get wet.

"What's going on?" Brock asked as he watched his sprinkler system malfunction.

The water began to make the ground muddy causing Graveler to slowdown and eventually get stuck in the mud.

Seizing the opportunity Dratini began to dash towards Graveler. "Use your tail to jump and use Iron Tail!" Ash shouted.

"Use Defence Curl!" Brock screamed.

Since Graveler was already curled up he accessed the energy necessary and a blue sheen covered him.

Dratini see his tail as a spring and launched himself in the air. He did a flip to add extra velocity to his flip and coated his tail in steel type energy. When Dratini came down and hit Graveler with his Iron Tail a loud cracking noise sounded throughout the room.

Dratini slithered back to Ash's side of the field and waited for the outcome.

Graveler began to get back up and was almost up but he ignited in flames once more and fell to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Graveler is unable to battle, the winner is Dratini. The victor is the challenger Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" The referee announced.

Ash stood there for a second as he processed that he just won his first gym battle. Dratini dashes towards Ash and slammed into his chest knocking him down.

"WE DID IT! YOU GUYS WERE AMAZING!" Ash screamed from the top of his lungs while hugging Dratini.

Dratini nuzzled Ash's chest while relishing in Ash's praise.

Ash heard a cough and looked up to see Brock standing a couple feet away with a smile on his face.

A blush grew on Ash's face from embarrassment and he stood up to face the taller man. Dratini coiled around Ash in his usual position.

"Congratulations Ash! That was a great battle, I haven't had that much fun battling in a long time! Some of the veteran trainers aren't that creative. That was really smart to use the sprinkler system to stop Graveler's rollout."

"Thanks Brock! That means a lot." Ash said with a smile.

"Anyways, you definitely deserve this." Brock said as he held out the Boulder badge.

Ash smiled and accepted the Boulder badge and placed it on the inside of his jacket.

"Thanks Brock, I'll take great care of it!" Ash said.

"Here take this too." Brock said while reaching into his back pocket.

Brock pulled out a case that had a disk inside of it. "This is the Tchnical Machine for Rock Tomb. As you can see it has a lot of uses in battle. You can use it defensively and offensively. It all depends on your imagination as a trainer." Brock said with a smile.

"Do you have a ™ case yet? Brock asked.

"No I don't, I have to go buy one." Ash said.

"Make sure you do, these are delicate and if the break they are expensive to rebuy." Brock said.

Ash gladly accepted the Technical Machine and put it in TAB.

"Do you have a pokégear?" Brock asked.

"Yea?" Ash replied.

"Let me see it, I'll add my number into it. Give me a call if you have any questions on Rock or Ground types. Although I specialize in Rock types, Ground types are very similar as they both work closely with the earth." Brock said while putting his number in Ash's pokégear.

Brock and Ash talked for another minute before saying farewell. Ash made his way to the Pokémon Center and gave his Pokémon to Nurse Joy so they could heal.

Once he got all of them back he went to the training ground out back and released Merlin and Growlithe. (Dratini always releases himself as soon as he finished getting healed and coils around Ash.)

Once they materialized and saw where they were at looked at Ash.

'We won.' Was all Merlin said.

"How do you know?" Ash asked upset considering he wanted to break the news.

'The hugs grin on your face told me young master.' Abra said with what could possibly be a hint of sarcasm.

Ash chuckled at his teammates remarks. "Well anyways great job you two! You two did an amazing job!" He said looking at Dratini and Growlithe.

Dratini puffed his chest out and was clearly enjoying the praise. Growlithe barked happily and wagged his tail happily.

Ash turned to Merlin, "I promise to use you in the next Gym buddy. I didn't want you to fight a gym leader without any actual attacks. We have to get you to evolve on the way to Cerulean City." Ash said with a smile.

'I look forward to that young master.' Merlin replied.

Ash opened his mouth but was cutoff.

'No I will continue to call you young master.' Merlin said before he was asked to stop.

"..."

'...'

"... I hate when you cut me off" Ash said after the moments of silence.

* * *

After the announcement Ash returned Merlin so he could get back to sleep. He went to his room inside of the Pokémon center and packed all of his things while also checking on his supplies.

Before Ash forgot he went to the video phones in the corner again and called his mom. He waited for someone to answer.

"Delia's Diner how can I help you?" Delia answered the phone.

"Mom I won!" Ash said happily as he showed her the Boulder badge.

"That's great honey! I knew you could do it!" Delia said clearly excited for her baby boy.

"Dratini and Growlithe were amazing! They battled super hard!" Ash said while looking at Dratini and Growlithe's pokéball.

"I'm so happy for you honey!" Delia said while looking at Ash.

"And how can I forget you?" Delia said while smiling at Dratini.

"Thank you for taking good care of my Ashy!" Delia Thanked Dratini.

Dratini puffed its chest out and reveled in the praise.

"Okay Ashy I have to go, it's almost lunch time so we have to start prepping."

"Okay mom, I'm getting ready to head to Mt. Moon and go to Cerulean City, so I'll talk to you when I get there." Ash said.

"Okay sweetie be safe, I love you!" Delia said.

"I love you too!" Ash replied as the connection cut off.

After the call ended Ash realized he still needed to get the new food for Growlithe so he didn't deplete his food supply.

Ash walked into the pokémart and found the Expo-pokédmon food. Ash winced slightly and grabbed enough food to last through Mt. Moon and to Cerulean City. Ash also stocked up on berries, potions, pokeballs, and food for himself. As he was walking out he saw some rope and had an idea on what to use it for, so he bought it as well. After he finished stocking up he left and started heading towards Mt. Moon.

Ash left Growlithe so he could work on his endurance. As fellow trainers passed their eyes bulged out at the size of Growlithe, two trainers asked him where he found Growlithe and when he told them they bolted towards. Viridian Forest.

* * *

It's been two days since Ash and his team left Pewter City. They battled seven trainers and won all of them. They have also been training like crazy. From what Ash was reading on his pokédex, Merlin is beginning to show signs of evolving. There is a very faint star on his forehead and his tail is beginning to grow out.

They have l been focusing hard on their training. Abra has his control down pat and is now working on how much he can lift before he loses control. So far he can now lift about 16 good sized rocks before he starts to lose control.

Dratini has been working on the speed at which he uses his moves. His moves hit hard but the need to be charged quicker.

Growlithe has been working on improving his Ember and has started to learn Crunch. After than he will start to learn Fire Fang. His jaws are powerful so attacks using jaws his will likely be a great moves for him to learn.

Ash has been studying up on the Cerulean City gym. He knows the use water types so Growlithe is most likely to miss this gym for obvious reasons. So he needs to make sure he finds a way to get Merlin to evolve soon. If he can't the. He will either need to find a new teammate or hope that Dratini can handle the whole gym by himself, which is something he doesn't want to do.

Ash has also been thinking of combos that he can use with his teammates. It's not a big priority at the moment but it is something that Ash will put thought into later.

* * *

It's the next day and they were getting ready for the morning training session. Everyone lined up and was ready for their instructions for training.

"Alright guys, we will work on cardio for the first thirty minutes then we will get into move training for the rest of this session.

"Merlin you know what to do." Was all Ash said before Merlin said before he teleported off.

"Dratini let's work on how fast you can move without Agility. If we can increase your base speed then when you use agility you will be that much faster."

Ash went to his bag and grabbed the rope. "What I'm going to do is tie one end around you and tie the other end to some rocks so you can get some resistance training while you work on your speed." Ash said as he tied a rope around Dratini and tied the other end to a decent sized rock.

"Alright, go ahead." Ash instructed.

Dratini tried to slither away quickly but was hindered greatly by the rock holding him back. Dratini knew that this would be a rough session for him.

"Alright Growlithe, we are doing the same for you, but I'm adding more weigh to accommodate your larger size." Ash said as pulled out more rope and tied multiple ropes around him. He tied the other end to bigger rocks so that he had greater resistance when he runs.

"Go run bud." Ash said as he rubbed the top of Growlithe's head.

Growlithe barked happily and began to run while dragging the rocks.

Ash went to his pokédex and quickly wrote that he needed to invest in weights for Dratini and Growlithe.

Ash then put his things down and began to run alongside of Dratini and Growlithe. After the thirty minutes passed he he called them over and untied Dratini and Growlithe from the ropes. They both were clearly exhausted from the running and from the resistance of the rocks. Merlin was out of breath and was barely floating due to him using teleport over and over again.

"Great job you guys, we will take a break and get into move training!" Ash said tiredly.

Ash went to his bag and pulled out TAB and grabbed some berries. He mix together a Oran berry and a Sitrus berry and made them a berry mix that will help them get some energy back.

Ash gave it to the three and they devoured it.

After about ten minutes they continued their training. Merlin worked on how much he can lift without losing control, which was starting to increase slowly. Dratini has been working on shortening the charge time for his all of his moves. Ash wants his moves to be as close to instantaneous as possible.

Growlithe basically has Crunch down considering it's just a stronger version of Bite. He is having slight problems with Fire Fang because he doesn't fully understand how to control the fire so it only coat his teeth in flames.

The group trained on their moves for about an hour before they packed up and started to make their way to Mt. Moon.

* * *

Ash and his team were only a short distance from Mt. Moon if Ash's pokégear was correct.

Ash, Dratini, and Growlithe were all when they bagan to see the entrance to Mt. Moon in the distance. They picked up the pace to get there faster when they heard a cry coming from the side of the road. They all looked at each other and decided to check out what that noice was.

* * *

 **And that's the chapter guys! Sorry that this is a shorter chapter. Between studying for school and studying for a test for a potential job I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and write. The only reason I got this chapter out is because I'm on spring break so I have more time on my hands.**

 **Hopefully you guys enjoyed the first gym battle, let me know how I did. I'm still open to ideas on who else Ash should catch. So leave a review and let me know who you think he should get. Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, I'm back with an update! Thanks for checking out my story! Ash battled Brock for his Boulder badge last chapter, in today's chapter we venture into Mt. Moon!**

 **I don't own Pokémon or anything. I now present The Road Ahead.**

* * *

Ash, Dratini, and Growlithe all made their way off the road and started to look for whatever made the crying noise.

"Growlithe can you track the noise?" Ash asked.

Growlithe gave an affirmative bark and began to slowly make his way further off road. Using his superior ears he lead the group through a bunch of trees into a clearing that looked like a battle had just taken place.

In the middle of the clearing they saw three Nidoran, two were purple in color and one was almost a light blue color.

From what it looked like one of the male Nidoran and the female Nidoran just finished fighting and the male had won. However it didn't stop there, the male Nidoran who won kept tackling the female as if it was asserting its dominance.

Now that he found what was causing the noise he returned Growlithe because he didn't want to frighten to Nidoran with too many people and with its huge size.

Ash was about to step in but before he could someone else did.

A boy around Ash's age stepped out into the clearing and faced the victor of the match. The two male Nidoran turned to the boy ready to attack at the drop of a dime. "I saw your battle and I like your aggressive battle style. Join my team and I will make you even stronger." The boy said with a cold tone.

The winner of the match looked at the boy and growled and got ready for battle, there was no way he'd willingly go along with this boy without a battle.

The boy just gave a smirk and sent out a turtle like Pokémon. Ash recognized the Pokémon from his studies with Professor Oak. It was the pokémon Turtwig, he would pull out his pokédex but that would risk giving up his position.

"Turtwig use Razor Leaf followed by Leech Seed." The boy commanaded.

The Turtwig followed orders without hesitation and launched the sharp leaves.

The Nidoran tried to dodge the Razor Leaf but he was still kind of fatigued from his previous battle causing him to get hit by the majority of the leaves.

Turtwig then shot a Leech Seed in between Razor Leaves and landed it.

The Leech Seed hit Nidoran and vines began to spread around Nidoran's body and slowly started to sap Nidoran's energy and give it to Turtwig.

"Use Vine Whip and slam him to the ground." The boy said coldly.

Turtwig shot out two vines from under his shell and reached for Nidoran but Nidoran jumped above them and launched Poison Sting, effectively hitting and causing good damage on the Turtwig.

"Quit playing around and get serious!" The boy said furiously at his pokémon. The boys Turtwig flinched slightly at its trainers tone and suddenly looked very angry at the Nidoran for getting him yelled at.

Turtwig launched two more Vine Whips at Nidoran and relentlessly chased him around.

Nidoran wouldn't allow himself to get caught by those vines so he jumped and rolled, he did everything he could to dodge the vines but the fatigue from the battle before began to settle in and he started to slow down.

Turtwig chased Nidoran and when Nidoran began to slow down Turtwig seized the opportunity and grabbed Nidoran. Turtwig lifted Nidoran high into the air and slamming him down with a great velocity.

When Nidoran hit the ground a cloud of dust was kicked up. When the dust settled Nidoran was on the ground struggling to get up but was failing miserably. He refused to stay down.

The boy looked at the injured pokemon and smiled. "Finish it with Tackle." The boy said clearly.

Ash couldn't believe what he was watching, the boy clearly already won the battle. Why was he attacking the Pokémon again? He couldn't help but to step in and put a stop to this.

"Dratini use Thunder Wave!" Ash called out.

Dratini immediately uncoiled from Ash and spring to action. Dratini jumped from the bushes they were watching the whole ordeal from and launched a weak electrical current at Turtwig causing him to stop in his tracks stopping him from hitting Nidoran.

"What the hell?" The boy said in a clearly confused voice.

Ash came out of the bushes and stood in between the boy and the Nidoran. Dratini slid in front of Ash and was ready for anything.

"What is your problem? The Nidoran is clearly unable to battle! Why did you keep attacking him?!" Ash shouted clearly pissed off.

"Why don't you mind your business. But if you must know I battled him fair and square and beat him. I was asserting dominance over him." The boy simply said.

"Now get out of my way before I make you." The boy said with a cold tone.

Ash narrowed his eyes and stepped closer.

"Make me." Was all Ash said.

The boy narrowed his eyes and reached for his belt.

"One on one." Was all Ash said.

The boy glared at him and pulled out a pokéball.

"Magby, Battlefront" The boy said as he sent out his Pokémon. The pokémon was short, about a foot high. Magby was red all over except for his stomach which was a cream color. Magby also had a black band around his throat. Magby stood on two feet which had three claws at the end. Magby has shorter arms which ended in three claws. Magby has a tail that is about six inches long.

"Growlithe let's go!" Ash said as he released his oversized puppy.

The boy saw Growlithe and narrowed his eyes even further. If this Growlithe has the ability he thinks he has then it will prove troublesome for him.

"Smokescreen" The boy called out.

Magby opened his mouth and shot out glob after glob of thick smoke which quickly covered the makeshift battlefield.

"Odor Sleuth!" Ash called out. Growlithe sniffed the air and locked in Magby's scent.

"Use Leer followed by Crunch!" Ash said.

"Faint Attack" The boy commanded.

Growlithe growled and barked his teeth slightly scaring Magby leaving him more susceptible to attacks. Magby shook out of it and disappeared into the shadows and appeared on Growlithe's side and slamming into him.

Due to the size difference Growlithe only moved a couple of inches. Due to the close proximity Growlithe turned and delivered a powerful Crunch attack.

"Use Fire Punch!" The boy called out.

Magby struggled to form a Fire Punch while being bit but charged one nonetheless and punched Growlithe. However, Growlithe didn't budge an inch. If anything Growlithe grinned while biting Magby.

"Don't be useless, get out of there!" The boy said angrily.

Magby struggled to get out of Growlithe's teeth. He tried to use Fire Punch but all that did was increase Growlithe's fire power. Then he used smokescreen in Growlithe's face which caused Growlithe to enter a coughing fit which allowed Magby to get loose.

"Use Pursuit" The boy said.

Magby once again disappeared and reappeared behind Growlithe and slammed into him.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked with concern.

Growlithe barked to let Ash know he was fine.

Ash smiled got ready to finish the battle.

"Return." The boy said as he recalled his Magby.

"Wait what?" Ash asked full of confusion.

"It is clear this weakling can't win. So why waste the effort of trying." The boy said with annoyance.

"He will get his punishment for losing later." The boy said with venom in his voice.

"But he didn't lose! You don't know how to battle could've went!" Ash defended.

"If he didn't win then he lost." The boy retorted.

The boy grabbed something and threw it.

Ash not knowing what was thrown he moved out of the way. He then heard what sounded like a pokéball opening. Ash's eyes widened, he completely forgot about the Nidoran.

The ball jiggled four times before it gave a ding signifying that the capture was successful.

The boy walked up to the ball and picked it up and placed it on his belt.

"The next time we meet I will utterly crush you." The boy said as he walked out of the clearing.

"... What's his deal?" Ash asked.

Ash heard a groaning noise behind him and he quickly turned around to see the female Nidoran. She was struggling to get up and Ash quickly kneeled next to her.

"Shhh it's okay." He said softly trying not to scare her away.

"I can help you." He said softly while reaching into his bag pulling out a potion.

Nidoran looked at Ash and his pokémon very cautiously before nodding.

When Ash saw that he had permission he unscrewed the nozzle of the potion and got ready to spray her.

"This will sting for a little bit but I promise it will make you feel better." Ash said softly.

Growlithe nodded his head to vouch for his trainer.

Ash began to spray the medicine on Nidoran and she hissed in pain for a second or two before sighing in relief.

Ash finished applying the potion to the Nidoran and put the empty bottle back into his bag.

Nidoran got back on all fours and smiled at Ash.

"How does you feel?" Ash asked.

Nidoran smiled, "Nidoran!" She said letting him know that she feels better.

"That's good! Why were you two battling in the first place?" Ash asked.

"Nido Ni Nido Nidoran Ran." Nidoran explained.

Ash tried to understand what she was saying but was failing miserably so he released Merlin for verification.

"Sorry to wake you bud but could you help translate?"

'Of course young master.' Merlin replied.

Nidoran repeated what she just said to Merlin who listened attentively.

'She said that the Nidoran that was just captured is her brother and that he was bullying their younger brother because he was the runt of the litter.' Merlin told Ash.

Ash frowned at that. "Well he was captured so your brother doesn't have to worry about him anymore." Ash said.

Nidoran let her ears flop down and had a crestfallen look on her face. Even though he was a jerk he was still her brother.

"How about you come with me?" Ash said, "If you come with me you might be able to see your brother again. You might even be strong enough to beat him next time." Ash said with a smile.

The Nidoran looked at Ash and then looked at her other brother. "If he wants he can come along too." Ash said with a smile.

"Nidoran Nido Ran Ran Nido!" The other male Nidoran said.

Ash looked to Merlin for translation.

'He said that he will stay here, someone has to take over as the chief someday.' Merlin said.

The female Nidoran nodded to her brother and turned to Ash smiled.

Ash pulled out a pokéball and tapped her on the head. The pokéball instantly dinged showing she put up no resistance.

The pokédex lit up and Nidorans information pulled up.

 **Nidoran, the poison pin pokémon, Its poison pin is quite powerful for its size, but its horn is smaller than a male's.**

 **Gender: Female**

 **Moves known: Growl, Scratch, Tail Whip, Double Kick, Poison Sting**

 **Size: Normal**

 **Egg Moves: Beat Up, Chip Away, Counter, Endure, Iron Tail, Poison Tail, Skull Bash, Venom Drench**

 **Abilities: Poison Point, Hustle (Hidden Ability)**

Ash released Nidoran and smiled at her. "You're quite the Nidoran aren't you!" Ash said with a toothy smile.

Nidoran smiled back

"So do you want a nickname? Merlin has one." Ash said as he gestured to Merlin.

Nidoran thought about if for a brief second before nodding.

Ash started saying names that he thought would fit her: Violet, Magenta, Majesty and other names of that nature but she turned them all down. Finally he named one that she liked.

"How about Gaia? " Ash asked.

"My mother used to read me a story about this different world and in that world Gaia was the goddess of that earth. She took care of the earth and cared for everyone. She was extremely powerful too. Since you're going to be part ground type and how you revolve into a Nidoqueen I think it fits." Ash said.

Nidoran thought about it for a second or two before nodding.

"Gaia it is then!" Ash smiled.

"Welcome to the team! Let me introduce to everyone. This is Dratini, he is my starter." He said as he gestured to Dratini.

Dratini nodded to Gaia.

"This is Merlin." Her gestured to Merlin.

Merlin simply nodded to Gaia respect.

"Finally this is Growlithe" he said while looking at the oversized puppy sitting next to him.

"Don't let his big size fool you, he is a great pokémon!" Ash said while rubbing the top of Growlithe's head.

Growlithe barked happily and wagged his tail.

Ash crouched down and got as close as he could to eye level. "I should let you know that I am on a journey to become the greatest Pokémon Master there ever was and ever will be. In order to do that I will need the strongest of the strongest pokémon beside me. In order for that to happen we will train like crazy, and battle countless trainers. I will do my best to make you the strongest Nidoqueen this world has ever seen." Ash said with a determined fire in his eyes.

"Do you think you can handle it?" Ash asked.

Gaia smiled with the same amount of determination that Ash just displayed and nodded her head vigorously.

Ash smiled and stood up. "Alright guys let's get back on track to Mt. Moon!" Ash said cheerily.

* * *

The Ash returned Merlin and Growlithe and left Dratini and Gaia out. Since he just captured Gaia he feels the need to bond with her and get to know her.

The three walked and talked for about an hour before they saw the entrance to Mt. Moon in the far distance.

After about another twenty minutes of walking Gaia began to get tired due to her short legs. After she was returned Ash and Dratini made the rest of the way to the entrance.

"We are finally here." Ash said.

Dratini yawned lazily.

Ash just rolled his eyes and walked in. It was very dark at first. It was slightly rocky and had a humid feel to it but after a minute or two Ash's eyes got used to the darkness.

Ash and Dratini began to make their way into Mt. Moon. Ash was sure to be careful about where he stepped because he heard stories of trainers accidentally stepping on Geodudes and getting chased out of Mt. Moon.

It seemed like Ash walked for about an hour and suddenly it got really bright. The league put up dim lights throughout the cave so trainers could see while making their was through but they wouldn't put up such bright lights. Doing that would disturb the pokémon that live here. However, the lights that were put up lit up the entire tunnel allowing a clear vision of the tunnel.

"Don't you think it's kind of weird that we haven't seen that many Pokémon bud?" Ash asked Dratini.

Dratini lifted his head from Ash's shoulder and whined slightly.

"I think something is going on too." Ash said

Almost as soon as Ash said that he swore he heard a pair of voices.

"Why do we always get stuck doing all of the crappy grunt work?" A man said.

"Probably because we are grunts." A female voice said sarcastically.

"With all the work that we do I think we should get promoted." The man replied.

Ash kept walking and eventually almost ran into the man and woman. Ash got a good look at the two. The man was dressed in all black sweater and all black pants. On his sweater was a crimson red R. He wore black shoes and a black hat as well.

The woman was hearing an all black skirt, an all black cut off shirt, a all black hat, and knee high black boots. Her cut off shirt also had a crimson red R on it.

When the two saw Ash their eyes instantly narrowed and reached to grab Ash but he dodged them. He jumped back a couple of feet and gained some distance between the two.

"Thunder Wave!" Ash commanded, he wanted to stop them before they called their pokémon out.

Dratini uncoiled from around Ash and hit the two with a Thunder Wave effectively paralyzing them.

Ash put his hand over his heart in an attempt to calm himself down.

Ash then realized the predicament he was in, in front of him were two paralyzed Team Rocket grunts.

Ash knew that he couldn't just leave them there because there was a good chance that there were more of them. So Ash did the most logical thing he could think of and dragged the two bodies back to a crevice that was relatively dark.

Although the two grunts were paralyzed it didn't mean they were quiet. The two were screaming trying to get someone's attention to come help them. To their dismay nobody came.

"Why is Team Rocket here?" Ash questioned the paralyzed grunts. The female grunt looked at Ash and spat in his face. Ash felt a mixture of disgust and anger course through his body.

Dratini saw the woman spit on his trainer and began to feel himself get pissed off quickly. As long as he was alive he won't let ANYONE harm his trainer. His eyes began to grow red and he was glaring daggers at the woman ready to wipe her from existence.

The woman saw the dragons eyes and her eyes widened in fear. "Get your damn dragon!" The lady said in fear.

"Calm down Dratini." Ash said as calmly as possible in an attempt to calm his partner down.

Dratini slowly averted his gaze from the woman to Ash and his eyes slowly returned to Normal.

"Thank you, it's going to be alright." Ash said with a smile as he rubbed Dratini's scales.

"Now to deal with them." Ash said as he looked at the two.

Ash pulled out his pokégear and looked for one of the few contacts that he had and called it.

He waited for a minute and then they answered.

"This is Brock." Answered Brock.

"Hey Brock this is Ash, I've got a bit of a situation." Ash said.

"What's going on?" Brock asked seriously.

"I'm in Mt. Moon and I ran into Team Rocket."

The other side of the phone was silent for a minute before Brock spoke again.

"This isn't something to joke about. Are you serious?" Brock asked with a tone Ash wasn't aware Brock had.

"Give me a second." Ash said.

Ash went to the camera function of the pokégear and took a picture of the two paralyzed grunts and sent the picture to Brock.

Ash heard nothing but silence for a few brief seconds before Brock spoke again.

"Send me your coordinates and don't move." Brock said with a serious tone that matched the type of Pokémon he uses.

"I will alert the league. They should be there soon. Stay safe Ash." Was all Brock said be hung up.

Ash and Dratini looked at each other. They both knew that they should just stay put and wait for the league but they both had a horrible feeling that something was going on.

They both knew they had to continue going forward to try and help but they would instantly get caught because of their appearance.

Then Ash had an idea.

Ash looked down and sized up the male grunt. Ash then put on a devious smile.

* * *

Ash had Dratini knock out the grunts with a low powered Iron Tail. He took the Male grunts clothes and put them on. He then tied both of the grunts up and left them in the dark crevice.

Ash snuck out of the crevice and began to walk ahead to see what Team Rocket is doing. Dratini coiled around Ash as usual but instead of laying his head on Ash's shoulder, his head was up and very alert ready to protect his trainer at all cost.

Ash released Gaia next to him and crouched down to her level. "I need a really big favor, we are in Mt. Moon and there are really bad people in here. I need you to listen to see if anyone is coming. If you hear anything let me know, okay?" Ash asked.

Gaia put a serious look on her face and nodded. She was determined to help her new trainer.

Ash smiled and rubbed her head careful to avoid the poisonous horn. Ash stood up and began to make his was deeper into Mt. Moon.

The three walked in silence in fear that if they make too much noise someone will find out that they are there.

They walked for about ten minutes before Gaia's ears perked up. She turned and gave a soft whimper towards Ash.

"Is someone coming?" Ash whispered.

Gaia nodded her head and pointed forwards.

Ash looked up and gulped. He reached for his pokeballs on his belt and returned Gaia. "Thank you for your help." Ash said gratefully.

The pokéball wiggled in acknowledgement.

Ash looked around for a second or two and noticed that all of the lights were connected by a long wire.

Suddenly an idea appeared in his head. "Dratini use Thunder Wave on those lights." Ash whispered.

Dratini uncoiled from Ash and shot the electric type move at the lights.

The lights sparked as they were overloaded with electricity and one by one they began to burnout, effectively dimming the area. Ash watched as the lights were shutting off as far as he could see. By the time all of the lights shut off the tunnel was back to being dark, with the exception of the dim lights that the league had put up.

Ash smiled at this, with the dark colors of the Rocket uniform that he was wearing he would be able to easily hide from anyone coming towards him.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE LIGHTS?!" A voice rang out.

Ash heard the voice and immediately jumped to the side of the tunnel and put his back against the wall.

A man in a Team Rocket uniform walked down the hallway and stopped a few feet in front of Ash. He reached for his radio and started speaking into it.

"I'm looking down section A2 and the lights are out down here too. I don't see anyone or anything that could have caused this." The man said in a raspy voice.

"Alright, hurry up and get back here so we can keep looking for this damn moon stone." The voice on the other side responded.

The man put the radio back onto his hip and took one last look around the area before he turned and walked back to where he came from.

Once the man was gone Ash let out a breath.

"Dratini, are you okay?" Ash whispered.

Ash got a soft trill in response.

"Good, let's keep going ahead and see if we can scout out what's ahead." Ash whispered as he followed the direction the man came from as silently as possible.

Ash silently crept down the darkened tunnel until he saw a light from a distance. Against his better judgement he walked towards the light and was introduced to a giant room.

Ash had a mixture of shock, disgust, and horror coursing through his veins.

Ash could see a number of trainers tied up and locked in cages. Some were still and unmoving while some of them were fighting to get free. Ash could also see Pokémon in cages. Just like some of the trainers they weren't moving at all and the rest were heavily beaten.

The large opening was littered with Team Rocket Grunts. The majority of them were busy digging rather noisily for what Ash presumed was the moon stone. They had excavation lights all over the place except for where the cages were. There were only about two people watching over the cages. One was watching the trainers while the other watched the pokémon.

Ash felt sick to his stomach at the sight of all the beaten Pokémon and trainers.

Dratini wrapped the end of his tail around Ash's arm to let him know that he is there for him.

Ash put his hand on Dratini's tail and gave a weak smile at his bestfriend.

"Thanks" Ash said softly.

"I can't believe Team Rocket would do something like this." Ash said softly to himself.

"I hope everyone is alright. Hopefully nothing is wrong with them." Ash said naively.

Dratini nodded his head in hopes that it would be true.

"We need to get them out of there." Ash said with a determined look on his face.

Ash and Dratini silently began to make his way down to where the trainers were.

After about five minutes of creeping towards the cages that the trainers were being held in and staying out of site from Team Rocket, Ash noticed that something smelled different. Ash shrugged it off and closed in on a cage.

Ash and Dratini snuck up from behind the cage to a boy who seemed to be his age and crouched next to him. Luckily the area with the trainers wasn't nearly as lit as the area that the Rocket grunts were digging so Ash was able to remain undetected.

"Hey are you okay?" Ash asked.

The boy didn't say anything.

"Hey man are you alright?" Ash tried again.

The boy once again didn't respond.

"Hey-" Ash started as he tapped the boy and the boy fell over.

The boys eyes were open but they were dulled over. Now that Ash could get a better look at the boy he noticed the boy wasn't breathing, the boy also was very pale.

It didn't take long for Ash to figure out that the boy was dead.

Ash fell backwards and crawled away from the deceased boy. He couldn't fully comprehend that the boy was dead. The boy had a blank look on his face and his lifeless eyes were staring into space without blinking. Ash began to gag and he felt the contents of his stomach rise to his mouth.

Ash swiftly moved his hand to his mouth and attempted to hold it in. Ash stayed like that for a couple of seconds before he returned to normal.

Dratini tapped Ash's shoulder and pointed towards the other cages with trainers inside of them. Ash realized that he couldn't dwell on this one trainer and decided to move on to try and save the trainers that were still alive.

"Stay hidden bud. I need you to watch my back and make sure nobody gets to me while I try and free everyone else." Ash said to Dratini.

He got up and crept towards a different cage with a girl who looked a little older than him. She had long brown hair and was dressed in a light blue tank top, a red skirt, a white bucket hat with a red stripe that had a pokéball on the front, finished off with red and white shoes.

Ash was hesitant about whether she would be alive or not but tried nonetheless.

"H-Hey are you alright?" Ash asked with a slight stutter.

The girl shifted slightly and groaned. She blinked a couple of times and turned to Ash.

Ash let out a breath of air when he realized that the girl was alive.

"Hey hey! Are you hurt?" Ash asked with concern.

The girl turned and looked to Ash and blushed slightly.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine for the most part." The girl answered.

"Do you have any Pokémon with you?" Ash asked quietly as he began to untie the ropes that restrained the girl.

"Yes I-" the girl started as she looked down towards her trainer belt and saw that all of her pokeballs were missing.

The girls eyes instantly widened and she was about to scream when Ash quickly muffled her mouth.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that you get your friends back." Ash said in a soft voice.

The girl looked at Ash and nodded with tears in her eyes.

Ash finished untying the ropes from around the girl and looked at the cage. He needed to find a way to get the girl out of the cage without alerting anyone. He thought about having Dratini use Iron Tail on the lock but it would be too loud.

He could use Merlin to teleport inside the cage then back out but the flash that comes from teleport would immediately give them away. Growlithe could try and bite the cage open but that would also be too loud. Gaia didn't have any moves that would could get the lock off quietly either.

Ash quickly racked his brain thinking of ways to open the cages silently.

"Do you have any ideas on how to get these open?" Ash asked.

"You mean you did all of this without any idea on how to get us out?" The girl asked.

Ash let out a soft sheepish laugh.

"I didn't think that far ahead, I just wanted to get everyone free." Ash admitted.

"Do you know where the keys are?" Ash asked.

"I don't know, they had a Hypno knock us out." The girl responded.

"Mmm, Do you have any ideas on how to get out?" Ash asked.

"No I don't." The girl replied.

Ash thought about it for a second before he had an idea.

"Merlin help us out." Ash said quietly.

Merlin came out of his pokéball with a bright flash. Ash immediately flinched and ducked when the flash came. He forgot about the usual flash that comes when you release a pokémon.

After about a minute of no one coming to them Ash got back into a crouched position and looked towards Merlin.

"Merlin can you use your telekinesis to pry these bars apart?" Ash asked while pointing to the bars on the cage.

'I will try young master.' Merlin answered before his eyes turned blue.

"One more thing, try to keep it as quiet as possible." Ash added.

'Noted.' Merlin answered.

The bars on the cage glowed a soft blue and slowly started to bend outwards. After a couple of seconds the bars were spread out enough for the girl to slip out.

Once the girl was free from her cage she turned to the other cages.

"Let's go save everyone else." The girl said.

"Once everyone is free all we have to do is stall until the league gets here. I called Brock before I saved you, they should be here soon." Ash said with a smile.

The girl smiled at the revelation.

"Thank Arceus! The league should be able to handle these low lifes." The girl said.

"Alright let's start freeing everyone else who….. is alive." Ash said in a barren tone.

"Wait.. what do you mean alive?" The girl asked with a scared tone.

Ash held his head down for a second before pointing to the deceased boy in the cage next to her.

"I tried to save him first, when I tapped him to ask if he was alright he fell over with a blank look on his face. He wasn't breathing and he was pale." Ash said in a sorrowful tone.

The girl held her hands to her mouth and her eyes watered. She started to hyperventilate in a panic.

Ash quickly pulled the girl into a hug to calm her down.

"Shhh, it's okay. I'm here, I'll make sure that nothing happens to you and I'll make sure you get your friends back." Ash said soothingly.

The girl leaned into Ash's hug and tried to calm down.

"We don't have time to sit around and cry over this right now. We have to get to everyone else and get them free." Ash said.

The girl sniffled one last time before breaking the hug with Ash.

"You're right." The girl said as she stood up.

Ash turned to Merlin.

"I need you to do that to everyone's cage that you can. Can I count on you for that?" Ash asked.

'I would move the earth for you young master.' Merlin said respectfully.

"Thanks bud!" Ash thanked quietly.

"By the way" Ash started. "What's your name? My name is Ash." Ash said.

"My name is Leaf." The girl now known as Leaf introduced herself.

"That's a pretty name." Ash said unconsciously. Ash suddenly realized what he said and quickly turned around to hide his blush of embarrassment.

"Let's go." Ash said as he turned to head to other cages.

"..okay" Leaf said with a blush.

* * *

Ash and Leaf released two other people, one boy and one girl. One of the boys had his pokeballs hidden in his jacket but the girl had hers taken.

They were working on releasing more kids when suddenly the other boy accidentally kicked something that made a loud noise.

Ash hoped that the noise would be drowned out from all the digging that was going on, but unfortunately luck wasn't on Ash's side.

"HEY WHAT WAS THAT?" A voice rang out.

Ash, Leaf, and the other two immediately froze.

"IT CAME FROM THE CAGES WITH THE TRAINERS IN THEM!" Another voice shouted.

They all heard footsteps approach their general area and it caused their adrenaline to run through their veins even more than it already was.

"SOME OF THEM ARE MISSING! LET PROTON KNOW THAT SOME OF THE CAPTIVES HAVE ESCAPED." The voice sounded off. The group noticed that there was suddenly a lot less digging noises going on.

"We need to find those damn brats that escaped. Split up and find them now!" A voice commanded.

"Dammit! They know you guys are missing." Ash said quietly. Ash looked around and saw that there was a darker area that would be able to hide them.

"Quick we have to hide, we need to stay hidden until the league gets here!" Ash said quickly. Ash turned to Merlin and returned him to the safety of his pokéball.

Ash pointed up ahead to the darker area that should be able to hide them sufficiently. "Let's head there, we should be out of site until then." Ash said.

The group looked to where Ash pointed and agreed with his plan.

"Let's hurry up" Leaf said as they began to quickly make their way to the dark area.

The group quickly ran to dark area as fast as they could without being caught and hid behind a couple of boulders that happened to be in the area.

As soon as the group made it to the safe spot, Rocket grunts arrived at the area that they were in seconds before.

The grunts looked around and began searching for the missing captives.

Ash peeked his head above the boulder they were hiding behind and surveyed the surroundings. After seeing that they were safe he sat down with his back to the boulder and turned to the others.

"We should be good, we just have to stay undetected." Ash said quietly.

Leaf and the two others agreed and they all fell into silence. The boy knew that it was his fault that Team Rocket even found out that they were missing.

Ash noticed the boys crestfallen mood and fought internally whether or not he should address it.

After a quick struggle he made his decision.

"Hey man, any one of us could've done it, don't sweat it." Ash said with a small smile.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it doesn't change the fact that it was me who did it." The boy said with downcast face.

Ash opened his mouth to respond but he found that he didn't have anything to say back to that.

The group all just sat there in silence.

That is until Ash heard something that made his blood run cold.

"Hey, I think I just saw a pokémon rush across the shadows!" A rocket grunt called out.

Ash instantly knew that it was Dratini.

He told Dratini to stay hidden but with all of the grunts walking around looking for them it probably made it hard for him to remain undetected.

Ash knew he had to save his bestfriend. He turned to the group and quickly explained what was going on.

"I'm sorry guys but I have to go, my partner is out there and I have to make sure he is alright." Ash said quickly before stepping out of the area.

'I need a plan to distract them long enough to get Dratini back to me.' Ash thought as he began to sneak around in the shadows to look for his partner.

Eventually he came up with an idea that may be stupid enough to work.

"I think I saw the trainers next to the captured pokémon!" Ash said as he tried to deepen his voice enough to sound like a rocket grunt.

Ash heard a bunch of footsteps run towards the cages which were on the other side of the clearing. Ash stepped out of the shadows and started to search for Dratini.

"Buddy where are you?" Ash whispered softly knowing his friend would be able to hear him.

A second later he was knocked to the ground by a blue blur. It coiled around his body and and squeezed him tight.

"Thank Arceus that you're alright! I was terrified something was going to happen to you!" Ash said as he squeezed Dratini back.

After their bone crushing hug they knew they had to get away before they were found out.

"I'm sorry." Was all Ash said before he returned Dratini. He knows that Dratini doesn't want him to be without any protection but he decided he would rather him get hurt then his bestfriend.

"Hey! Why aren't you helping looking for the captives?" A rocket grunt asked.

Ash looked around saw a rocket grunt standing a few feet away looking right at him.

"Huh?" Ash asked.

"I asked you why you aren't looking for the captives?" The grunt asked a bit more forcefully.

'Wait does he think I'm a part of Team Rocket?' Ash asked to himself, then he remembered he stole a that rockets uniform earlier.

"I thought I was that pokémon that was on the run, I tried to go after it but it attacked me." Ash said quickly.

"Don't worry about that, we have to find those damn captives before Proton flips his lid." The grunt said with annoyance.

"Yea let's go." Ash said as he got up and started "looking" for Leaf and the others.

 **(Meanwhile with Leaf and company)**

Leaf ducked her head from the boulder, she saw the whole interaction with Ash and the Team Rocket grunt.

She turned to the other two, "We need to do something, Ash risked himself to get us out of the cages and he his out there in danger of being caught." Leaf said worriedly.

"But what can we do? We don't have our teams and they have us outnumbered." The girl said with a frown.

"...one of is can always sneak off and find our teams." The boy said quietly.

The girls both turned to the boy with wide eyes.

"Are you crazy? We are outnumbered, there isn't a way for us to go out there without us being found out." Leaf said with a scowl on her face.

"Then what do you suppose we do? Call Ash back over and have him get our pokeballs for us?" The boy said sarcastically.

"No we can't do that either, it'll put Ash in more danger. It would look suspicious if Ash suddenly goes to get our pokeballs and suddenly disappeared." The girl said.

"She has a point, I think the only logical thing to do would be to wait for the league to get here." Leaf said.

The boy hugged and turned his head to the side. He knew the girls were right but he couldn't help but feel useless.

 **(Back with Ash)**

"Where are those damn brats?" Said the rocket grunt that found Ash.

"I don't know where they could've gone." Ash lied.

"What is taking so long?" A cool voice said with a hint of irritation.

All of the Rocket grunts straightened and saluted at the person.

The man was a little taller than Ash, he had turquoise colored hair, and had a slim body. He had on a Rocket uniform but his was different from everyone Ash has seen so far. His uniform had a yellow trim on the collar and on the bottom of his shirt. He had white gloves that went just below his shoulder that had a red stripe towards the end of them, as well as white boots that stopped just below his knees that also happened to have a red stripe toward the top of the boot. He finished his uniform with a black hat.

Although the man had a slender build, it was clear to see the man had well defined muscles underneath his uniform.

Ash looked around and caught on that this man must be of some importance so he followed everyone else Leaf and saluted the man as well.

"Proton sir, we are still looking for the captives." A random grunt informed.

The man known as Proton looked around and surveyed the area.

His eyes scavenged around and he stopped momentarily on Ash before moving on. They made eye contact for what seems like hours to Ash but was only a brief second.

"Half of you continue looking for the captives while the other half of you continue digging." Proton commanded.

"Yes sir!" All of the grunts sounded off.

"You over there" Proton said as he pointed to Ash.

Ash looked around to see if he was referring to someone else.

"The idiot turning around, come here now." Proton demanded calmly.

Ash could've swore he felt his heart stop when he realized Proton was addressing him. He made his way to Proton and responded how he thought any rocket grunt would respond to a higher up.

"Yes sir!" Ash said.

Proton didn't respond but instead walked around Ash surveying him. He walked around him twice before a small smile grew on his face.

"You have more than two pokéball. Why is that?" Proton asked but to Ash it sounded more like a statement.

Ash had to quickly think of a reason why he had more than two pokeballs.

"I took some of the trainers pokéballs and I was about to put them with all of the other pokéball." Ash answered. A small part of him was proud of himself for the lie he just came up with.

"Mmm, well alright go ahead and go put them with the rest." Proton said cooly.

"Yes sir!" Ash answered.

Ash turned to find the area that the pokeballs were in but he suddenly realized that he couldn't move anymore.

He struggled to move but found it useless.

Ash suddenly heard a laugh that would send shivers down most people's spines.

"Do you think I wouldn't recognize that you aren't part of my group?" Proton laughed.

"I make an effort to know the faces of everyone within my squadron and quite frankly I don't recognize you. To top that off you made a mistake that gave you away." Proton said as he walked around and stood in front of Ash.

"When you explained where you got those pokéball from you said that you took them from the trainers. The first mistake you made was calling them trainers instead of captives. The second mistake was that we already took all of the pokeballs from the captives, so I immediately knew that you didn't belong." Proton dissected.

Ash could only struggle as he tried to get away.

"It's not use in trying to get away, Hypno here wouldn't let you go even if he was on the brink of death unless I instructed him to do so." Proton informed as Hypno walked around and showed himself.

Hypno was a humanoid pokémon that was covered in yellow fur and had a snow white mane around his neck. He had a peculiarly large nose and no mouth. He held a doughnut shaped pendant that was hanging down and was also glowing blue. Ash suspected that's the Hypno was using the pendant as a focus point to control his powers.

The Hypno stared straight into Ash's eyes as if he was reading his mind.

"Now I can have Hypno tear apart your mind and find out where the captives are or you can make this easy for me and just tell me. If you tell me I might have mercy and make your death quick and easy." Proton said with a sick demented smile.

Ash immediately knew that he couldn't reveal the location of Leaf and the others.

Ash was about to say something but when he tried to open his mouth he realized that he couldn't because of the psychic hold on him.

Proton realized this and gave a soft laugh.

"Oops" Proton laughed, "Hypno let him talk." Proton said with a small laugh.

Hypnos eyes flashed briefly and Suddenly Ash could move his head around.

"Sorry about that, Hypno here is a little to good at his job and won't let anyone he captures move a muscle." Proton explained.

"What choice are you making?" Proton Asked again.

"I don't know where they are." Ash lied.

The smile that Proton gave Ash made his blood run cold.

"You know what, I was really hoping you made that choice!" Proton said as he threw a vicious right cross to Ash's cheek.

"ARGH" Ash said as he took the punch. He could immediately tell that he was bleeding from somewhere in his mouth and it was already starting to leak out.

"Still don't know where they are?" Proton asked with clear enjoyment in his voice.

Ash looked at Proton and spat blood on his shirt.

Proton froze for a second and looked at his shirt in shock. After registering that he was just spit on his eyes narrowed evilly and he looked at Ash as if he was about to murder him.

"Ohh you shouldn't have done that." Proton said before he unleashed a ferocious assault on Ash.

Proton threw punches and kicks at Ash at a ridiculous speed. Although Proton was rather skinny, the muscle that he had was apparent as the hits that Ash took hurt like hell.

Proton continued the assault on Ash for at least five minutes before he stopped for a brief second the catch his breath and to admire his work.

Ash was a mess, he had a nasty black eye, he cheeks were swollen, The was a cut above his left eye from a nasty punch that he took, and Ash was pretty sure that a couple of his ribs were at least heavily bruised.

 **(Back to Leaf and company)**

All three of them were in absolute shock as the watched Proton beat the absolute hell out of Ash. Both of the girls had their hands covering their mouths so they didn't scream for Ash.

The boy just stood there watching feeling even more helpless then he did before. He knew that he couldn't do anything even though he hoped to Arceus that he could.

Leaf fell to her knees and began a prayer.

"Arceus please help Ash!" Leaf said repeatedly.

The girl also fell to her knees but she just started crying silently.

 **(Back to Ash)**

"Let me guess, you still don't know where they are do you?" Proton asked having a hunch what Ash would say.

Ash lifted his head weakly and smiled in defiance.

"If only we met under different circumstances, you would've made an excellent member for Team Rocket." Proton said as he wound his fist back to hit Ash again but he stopped when he felt the ground rumble.

He stopped and looked around to see everyone in the area looking around wondering what was causing the ground to shake.

Their question was answered when a giant metal snake burst out of the ground with a ear-splitting roar that shook the ground that they stood on.

On top of the snake was a man with spiky brown hair. Ash instantly recognized him as Brock.

* * *

 **Hey guys! What do you think of the way Ash's team is shaping up? I'm always up for suggestions for future members so go ahead and leave a review and let me know who you think Ash should catch. Ash met another rival of his in this chapter and believe me it won't be the last time he has a run in with him.**

 **Ash had a run in with Team Rocket and it didn't turn out exactly how Ash planned, see how it turns out next chapter. I'll try to have it up as soon as I can. Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! I'm really glad you guys are enjoying my story so far! I know that the last chapter had a bit of a darker feel to it but in my opinion the world isn't always sweet. I think that dark stuff does happen in the world so why wouldn't it happen in pokémon as well? Well anyways, this chapter finishes off what happens in Mt. Moon and what goes from there. Thank you for rocking with me!**

 **I don't own Pokémon or anything, I now present The Road Ahead.**

* * *

A giant steel serpent broke through the ground and delivered a roar that shook the ground that everyone was standing on. Atop of the Steelix was none other than was who Ash recognized to be Brock.

"FREEZE, BY LAW OF THE POKÉMON LEAGUE I HEREBY PLACE YOU ALL UNDER ARREST!" Brock called out in a booming voice.

As soon as he said that six new trainers teleported into the clearing with an Alakazam. They all had on a pokémon league uniform and a belt with six pokéball attached to them. However one of the people who was teleported in stood out.

The man easily stood over everyone else and had long black spiky hair tied into a ponytail. The man had extremely large bulging muscles all over his body. He was he only wearing the pants of a karate uniform and a black belt tied around his waist.

They instantly recognized him as Bruno of the Elite Four. He had a Hitmonlee standing next to him that looked devastating powerful and was ready to attack in a moments notice.

Proton saw the situation they were in and immediately began barking orders. "PACK UP EVERYTHING THAT WE CAN AND GET THE HELL OUT!" Proton shouted.

Grunts started to scramble around trying to pack up everything that they could.

"NOT SO FAST! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" Bruno's voice boomed.

The Ace trainers let out a roar of determination and released their pokémon. A wide variety of Pokémon appeared from the massive Rhydon to the agile Butterfree.

When the grunts saw the Ace trainers pokémon, they had no choice but to release their own. The Rocket grunts sent out the typical Raticate, Golbat, Koffing, and Ekans. The were also a couple of Weezing, Arbok, and a couple of grimers.

The Ace trainers and the Rocket grunts began an all out battle.

Proton growled to himself. He knew that if it came down to a battle then they would suffer a crushing defeat.

Proton thought for a split second and came up with a solution. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a radio..

"CODE: BLACK! I REPEAT, CODE: BLACK! GET US OUT OF HERE NOW!" Proton shouted into his radio.

He waited for a second for a response but to his dismay the response didn't come.

"CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? CODE: BLACK!" Proton repeated.

Once again he waited for a reply. It didn't come.

Proton ground his teeth and realized that he has to try and fight his way out of this. He knew that they would most likely lose but he would rather die than to get captured without fighting back.

Proton reached for two of his pokéballs on his belt and released his pokémon. A large Crobat and a Weezing materialized from their pokéball.

"We need to focus on that giant brute." Proton said to his pokémon while pointing at Bruno who was flawlessly commanding his Hitmonlee.

Both of his pokémon nodded and shot towards Bruno but before they got remotely close they both were sent to the ground and landed with a loud crash causing dust to fly everywhere.

Proton took a step backwards in panic. What in the hell could send both of his pokémon down like that? It couldn't have been the Hitmonlee, that thing was fighting off the grunts that were trying to attack him.

The dust that was in the air made it hard for Proton to see his surroundings but he could've swore he saw a pair of piercing red eyes were staring straight into his soul. A shiver went through his spine as the dust settled. A pokémon was standing on two feet. It was black and blue all over with a cream color covering his stomach. The pokémon has a spike going through both of its paws and a giant spike going through its chest.

"Did you think that I would come here with only one pokémon?" Bruno said while laughing.

"Lucario here is quite protective of me, he has a tendency to release himself and protect me if he senses any sort of danger heading towards me." Bruno said while rubbing the top of Lucario's head.

Proton growled and began barking commands again.

"GET UP! USE SMOKESCREEN AND AERIAL ACE!" Proton shouted.

Crobat was the first to get up and shot towards Lucario.

Proton swore he saw Lucario smirk before he heard a crackling sound. Lucario twisted his body slightly and hit Crobat with a devastatingly powerful Thunder Punch that sent Crobat crashing into the wall.

Weezing tried to get up next but he suddenly hit with an Iron Tail and he found himself right next to Crobat in the wall. Proton looked to see what attacked Weezing and saw that it was Steelix.

"You Team Rocket scum are something else. You would send more than one Pokémon against a single Pokémon?" Brock asked but the way it came out it was more of a statement.

"Steelix use wrap on him." Brock said.

Steelix gave a giant roar and shot towards Proton.

As Steelix was about to wrap Proton a Psybeam crashed into the side of Steelix head.

Hypno suddenly appeared right in front of Proton.

"GET UP AND GET OVER HERE!" Proton shouted at the two collapsed pokémon.

But to no avail they didn't move an inch.

Proton gritted his teeth and began to sweat profusely. He reached for his belt and grabbed Crobat and Weezing's pokéball and returned them. He reached for another pokéball on his belt and released it.

* * *

Leaf and the other two saw the chaos that was breaking out and how that Ace trainers were beginning to get pushed back.

"We have to help them, they are starting to get overwhelmed. We should take this opportunity to find our Pokémon and help!" Leaf said.

"What if someone catches us before we can find our pokémon?" The girl said worriedly.

"Then we just run." The boy said.

Now that they were all in agreement to go find their teams they left the area and made their way into the large clearing. They began to search for the area that held their pokéballs so they can join in on the battle and hopefully get rid of some of Rocket grunts pokémon.

"Hurry up, we need to find our pokémon so we can help!" Leaf said as she was running and noticed a large tent close to the pokémon cages.

"Over there!" Leaf said as she pointed to the tent.

"Our Pokémon could be in there!" Leaf said.

The group then ran towards the tent but was stopped before they could go in.

"I FOUND THE CAPTIVES!" A voice rang out.

The group turned and looked to see where the voice was came from.

There was a single grunt who had an Ekans that was glaring at the group.

They all froze and put their hands up as if telling the snake they mean no harm.

"Use Iron Tail!" A familiar voice rang out.

A blue blur came and smacked Ekans and sent it sliding back.

The group looked to where that voice came from and saw that it as none other than Ash.

 **FLASHBACK 1 minute ago**

Ash suddenly felt himself drop to the ground. He laid there for a couple of seconds in absolute pain. When Hypno teleported away he released his telekinetic grip on Ash causing Ash to fall.

Ash sat up and looked around and saw all of the chaos that was happening. Ash noticed that there were some Ace trainers here and although they have powerful pokémon they were getting outnumbered and it was taking a toll on them. The grunts vastly outnumbered them and it was starting to show.

Bruno's Hitmonlee was handling a large group of grunts but when Ash took a closer look he saw that Hitmonlee was poisoned.

'I have to help somehow' Ash thought to himself.

Ash thought for a brief second and released his team.

His team came out of their balls and saw the state their trainer was in and immediately rushed him.

Dratini rushed to Ash's side and started to see what all was injured on his trainer.

Growlithe sat next to Ash and whined. Growlithe leaned in and started to lick Ash in an attempt to make his trainer feel better.

Gaia ran up next to Dratini. Although she hasn't been with Ash very long she still cares for her trainer. She nuzzled her head against his arm but she was careful not to stab his arm with her horn.

Merlin teleported next to Growlithe and looked at Ash.

'Young master are you alright?' Merlin Asked

"I'll be alright, but we need to help out right now." Ash said as he got up. He felt a sharp pain shoot through his ribs and held his hand over the area.

His team stepped closer to make sure their trainer wouldn't fall over.

"Don't worry guys I'll be fine, I need you guys to do whatever you can to help out the Ace trainers." Ash said as he looked at the Ace Trainers that were beginning to get overwhelmed.

"Dratini I want you with me, everyone else go help out." Ash said.

They all nodded and went to go help out.

Ash looked around to see where his help would be needed the most when he heard something that sent a chill down his spine.

"I FOUND THE CAPTIVES!"

Ash looked at where he heard the voice and saw a grunt standing in front of Leaf and the others with an Ekans ready to attack.

"Dratini use Agility then Iron Tail!" Ash shouted.

Dratini closed his eyes for a brief second and then his eyes snapped open and he shot off leaving a blue trail behind him. He coated his tail in steel type energy and whipped around and smacked Ekans in the side of his head.

 **Present Time**

Ash ran over to the group, "Are you guys alright?" Ash asked.

"Are you serious right now? You're asking if we are alright in your condition!" Leaf said as she ran up to Ash and gave him a bone crushing hug.

Ash winced in pain as he was squeezed which caused Leaf to let him go and take a step back.

"Sorry" was all she said with a sweat drop.

"What are you guys doing out here? I thought you guys were going to stay hidden until the league handled everything." Ash said.

"We were but we saw how the Ace Trainers were getting outnumbered and we decided that we had to help." The boy answered.

"Well do you have a clue where everyone's pokémon are?" Ash asked.

"We think that they are in this tent." Leaf said pointing to the tent behind them.

"Well let's find out!" Ash said as he and the rest of the group made their way into the tent.

Inside the tent was a bed that was made neatly, a black bag that was in the corner, and a table that had a bunch of papers scattered all over it. Ash ran up to the table and grabbed all of the papers and stuffed them into his bag.

Leaf and the girl immediately ran to the bag and opened it, they saw that it indeed had their pokémon in them.

They searched through the bag and grabbed their pokeballs. They were about to go outside the tent but Ash stopped them.

"Wait, we should split up, Leaf and I will free the rest of the Trainers and get them their teams back while you two help the Ace Trainers. The more help we can get on our side the better." Ash suggested.

"That sounds good, let's do it." The girl said.

Ash grabbed the bag and turned to leaf.

"Do you have any Pokémon that can help open the cages?" Ash asked leaf.

"Yea I do" Leaf said as she reached for a pokéball on his belt.

"Come help us out Forrest!" Leaf said as she released a Bulbasaur.

Forrest appeared next to Leaf and roar it's name.

"We need your help sweetheart, can you use Razor Leaf on the cages to free the trainers?" Leaf Asked.

Forrest looked at the cages and nodded with determination.

They made their way to the cages but were stopped by a grunt who was guarding the cages.

"What do you think you're doing?" The grunt asked them in a fierce tone.

"You go ahead, I'll take care of him." Ash told Leaf.

Leaf nodded and tried to run ahead but the grunt released a sickly Weezing that was in her way. The Weezing looked smaller than it should be and wasn't spewing out nearly as much fumes as healthy Weezing would. The Weezing also looked malnourished.

"Who said I'm going to let you ignore me?" The grunt said with a grin.

"I did, Dratini use Thunder Wave followed by Dragon Rage!" Ash said.

Dratini charged up slightly and shot the weak electrical current at Weezing effectively paralyzing him. After that Dratini opened his mouth and began to charge a Dragon Rage.

"Not so fast! Use Sludge Bomb!" The grunt shouted.

Weezing struggled to float after being paralyzed but he fought through paralysis and spat a Sludge Bomb at Dratini effectively making him cancel his attack so he could dodge.

Ash grit his teeth, he had to choose moves that Dratini didn't have to charge up. If he manages to make it out of here that would be something that they would work on.

"Use Twister!" Ash shouted.

Dratini's eyes turned a purplish color and the wind began to pick up in their area. Suddenly you could see the formings of a twister for a brief second before it grew exponentially and sucked Weezing inside.

Weezing howled as the Twister sucked him in and rattled him around.

"While we have to time, charge an Iron Tail and hold it, on my command release Twister and hit him on his way down!" Ash said.

Dratini nodded his head and coated his tail in steel type energy.

After about fifteen seconds he released Weezing and just as Ash said Dratini used Iron Tail as Weezing was on the way to the ground.

The grunt decided he had enough.

"GRR, THAT'S IT! WEEZING USE EXPLOSION!" The grunt bellowed.

Weezing weakly floated up and started to glow a white color.

Ash's eyes widened and he paled considerably.

"DRATINI GET OUT OF TH-" Ash started but it appears that Lady Luck was with him at the moment.

Weezing stopped glowing and paralysis took over.

Ash saw the opportunity and seized it.

"Use Dragon Rage and finish it!" Ash shouted.

Dratini opened his mouth and a orb of dragon type energy slowly formed in his mouth. After it was primed and ready Dratini fired it.

Dratini's aim was accurate as the Dragon Rage hit Weezing in its face. A small cloud of dust kicked up around Weezing. After the dust cleared Ash saw swirls in Weezing's face.

Ash and Dratini grinned and made their way past the grunt. They saw that while they were battling, Leaf had already released five other trainers and returned their pokémon to them.

"Ash! Almost everyone is free, we got the rest. Go help your team and the Ace Trainers!" Leaf said as she continued helping all of the trainers. Ash nodded and turned to make their way to the rest of his team.

* * *

Ash made his way to where the rest of his team were and they were all battling to the best of their abilities. Growlithe was currently taking on a mean looking Raticate and was holding his own.

Gaia was battling an Ekans and was currently in a standoff. They both clearly took some hits and wouldn't last too much longer.

Merlin was doing his best to hold off a Grimer but he could only do so much considering he didn't have any attacks.

He was doing a great job of avoiding the Groner with Teleport but he would never win the battle if he couldn't attack.

"Merlin grab him with your telekinesis and throw him in front of an attack!" Ash shouted.

He wasn't sure Merlin heard him until he saw the Grimer floating and get launched at an Thunder Shock that an Ace Trainers Raichu let off.

The Thunder Shock was enough to knock out the Grimer which allowed Merlin to focus somewhere else.

Ash began to give commands to the rest of their team to help them with the battle that they were currently in when Merlin suddenly turned and had a strained look on his face. Ash noticed that Merlin's eyes were blue so he was clearly using his telekinesis but he didn't know why.

He turned around and saw a large Raticate's sharp fangs inches away from his neck.

A blinding light suddenly erupted in the clearing and Ash turned to see that it was Merlin who was evolving.

He was showing signs that he was close to evolving so the pressure of saving his trainer must have been what pushed him over the edge.

Merlin began to grow taller. He grew about two feet, his head became more slender and his ears pointed out more. His shoulder pads also grew. His tail grew out to be long and bushy. To finish it off he grew a mustache that ended slightly passed his abdomen.

Merlin finally stopped glowing and looked fierce.

His eyes turned blue again but this time was different, the blue was a deep blue signaling that he finally had access to his latent psychic powers that he didn't have access to as an Abra.

The Raticate that was in Merlin's hold suddenly began to screech in pain before he was launched off at a rapid pace.

"Oh my Arceus! You are amazing Merlin! You finally evolved!" Ash said with a big toothy grin.

'Are you alright young master?" Merlin asked.

Ash noticed that his voice was considerably deeper that it was before. Previously his voice sounded like a 10 year old boy, but now it sounded like a 17 year old teenager.

"Yea I'm fine, thank you." Ash responded.

"Look ou-" Ash began to warn as a Golbat tried to swoop in and attack Merlin from behind but the Golbat suddenly stopped mid-air. Merlin turned to the Golbat and smirked.

A spoon suddenly formed out of air as if it had teleported from someone's Kitchen and it began to glow blue.

Merlin launches a Psybeam at the Golbat which knocked it back and weakened it severely.

"Finish it off with Confusion!" Ash shouted.

Merlin's newly acquired spoon glew blue before shooting a psychic wave at Golbat effectively knocking it out.

"Great job Merlin, let's help everyone else." Ash said.

* * *

Bruno and Brock easily handled the rest of Protons team which put the pressure on Proton.

He was racking his brain thinking of ways to get out of this predicament until he heard a message coming from his radio.

"Responding to Code: Black, I repeat Responding to Code: Black. Initiating response in 3." The voice said.

"What the hell is Code: Black and what the hell are you about to do?" Bruno yelled.

"2."

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Bruno screamed.

"1."

Proton smiled and looked Bruno dead in his face.

"You haven't seen the last of Team Rocket!" Proton said as he and all of the Team Rocket grunts teleported away.

Everyone stood in shock. There was nothing but silence. All you could hear was the faint dripping of water in the distance.

"DAMMIT!" Bruno shouted as he turned and walked over to a good sized boulder and punched it leaving a good sized dent in the rock.

"I can't believe I let them get away." Bruno said in a soft anger.

Brock walked up to the large man and put his hand on his back.

"It's okay at least they know that the League won't back down from them, we will catch them next time." Brock consoled.

"You're right. If anything this lets them know that we will be ready next time. We will crush Team Rocket this time around." Bruno said in a dark tone.

"But for now we have to get everyone here to safety." Bruno said as he looked around the battlefield.

Brock looked around with Bruno and saw all the damage done to the clearing they were in.

"The league is going to have one hell of a time cleaning all of this up." Bruno laughed.

That earned a laugh from Brock.

"Anyways where is the kid that called you?" Bruno asked.

"I'm not sure, I thought I saw him when I first busted in." Brock said as he looked to the area that he came in at.

"We will find him eventually, for now let's help out the captured trainers and Pokémon." Bruno said.

* * *

"You guys did great! I'm so proud of all of you!" Ash said with a smile as he looked at each of his teammates.

All the Pokémon preened under Ash's praise.

"ASH!" A voice rang out.

Ash looked to see Leaf running towards him.

"Hey Leaf!" Ash started with a smile. He turned to make his way to where she was at but he suddenly felt weak. His started to feel very lightheaded, not long after before his vision went black.

* * *

Ash groaned as he slowly opened his eyes but immediately shut them again at the brightness of the lights.

He blinks his eyes a couple of times in order to get used to the brightness of the room. He finally opened his eyes and took in his surroundings.

The walls were all white as well as the ceilings. Everything looked clean. Very clean.

He also realized he was lying in bed with wires attached to him. There was a ventilator next to him showing his heartbeat. He tried sit up which caused a very sharp pain to shoot through his ribs.

He groaned at the pain laid back down.

The door opened and a Doctor in blue scrubs and a white doctors coat walked in.

The doctor looked to be middle aged, he had dark blue hair and he wore glasses.

He looked up and saw that Ash was awake.

"Hello Mr. Ketchum. How are you feeling?" The doctor asked.

"Um I'm fine but my ribs hurt pretty bad. Where am I by the way?" Ash asked.

"You are currently in Pewter City hospital. It doesn't surprise me that your ribs hurt, when Brock brought you in it looked like a Machoke used Close Combat on you." The doctor said.

"Excuse me, allow me to introduce myself. I am Doctor Roy. Pleasure to meet you, if only it were under better circumstances." Doctor Roy said as he held out his shake Ash's hand.

"Pleased to meet you too and yea me too." Ash responded as he shook Doctor Roy's hand.

"Now let me read off what was hurt when you came in." Doctor Roy said as he began to read Ash's chart.

"You have three cracked ribs, a concussion, a cut just above your left eye, and a good shiner." Doctor Roy read off.

"That explains why my ribs hurt then." Ash said.

"Yes it does." Doctor Roy responded.

Ash then thought about something and his eyes went wide.

"Where is my team?!" Ash asked worriedly as he sat up quickly but a sharp pain made him lay back down just as quickly.

"Calm down, they had to return your team. When they tried to do some first aid for the cut above your eye you're team wouldn't let anyone close to you. Especially your Dratini." Doctor Roy explained.

"Can I see them?" Ash asked.

Doctor Roy contemplated the thought and decided it couldn't hurt.

"I don't see why you can't." Doctor Roy answered.

"I'll be back so I can get them." Doctor Roy said as he was leaving the room.

Before he left the room he turned back in as if he had something else to say that almost slipped his mind.

"I almost forgot to mention, you have some visitors that wanted to see you when you woke up." Doctor Roy said.

"How long have I been out?" Ash asked.

"Only for a couple of hours. You came in around Two o'clock completely unconscious and it's about nine thirty." Doctor Roy told Ash before leaving the room.

Ash laid back in bed and waited for about a minute before Doctor Roy came back into the room with four pokéballs.

Ash gratefully took them from Doctor Roy and released them.

After a flash of red light all of his pokémon materialized. They looked around before their eyes fell on Ash.

There was a moment of silence before.

Then Dratini and Growlithe pounced on Ash. Dratini coiled around Ash and began squeezing him tightly. Growlithe just jumped on his like the puppy he is and started to lick Ash's face.

Ash would've enjoyed the greeting but his ribs were in a ton of pain from the weight on his ribs and being squeezed.

Ash grimaced which caused Dratini and Growlithe to see that they were hurting their trainer and got off of his as quickly as they jumped on him.

After he recovered a bit he saw that Merlin was floating a bit behind Growlithe and Gaia was sitting down next to Dratini.

Merlin and Gaia knee that their trainer was hurt and knew better than to jump on him. If only the other two stopped to think for a second before acting.

Ash slowly sat up, he paused for a second due to the pain in his ribs but he fought through it. When he was finally comfortable he swung his legs off the end of the bed. That's when he realized he was wearing a hospital gown.

He looked up at his pokémon and smiled.

"I'm so proud of all of you!" Ash said with as big as a smile as he could muster.

They all smiled back except for Dratini and Merlin, Merlin isn't big on smiles….or showing emotions at all for that matter.

Dratini on the other hand didn't look pleased with Ash.

Dratini slithered up the Ash and rose up until he was eye to eye with Ash. Once he was close enough Dratini reared back and gave Ash a headbut.

Everyone in the room rushed forward to stop Dratini but one look in the dragon's eyes stopped everyone in their tracks.

"OW! What the hell?!" Ash asked in a painful confusion.

Dratini began to shout his name repeatedly and mixed a few growls in there.

Ash just sat there and let Dratini continue to yell at him.

Dratini yelled at Ash for a solid minute or so before he finally stopped and glared at Ash.

Ash stared into the Dratini's narrowed eyes and finally understood what Dratini was saying.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have returned you when I did but it was all I could think of doing that would make sure that you would be alright." As said.

"Buddy I don't think you understand how rare you are. Outside of you, Professor Oak's Dragonite, and Lance's Dragonite, I've never seen another Dragonite or Dratini for that matter. If Team Rocket saw you then they wouldn't hesitate to capture you and use you for their own evil purposes." Ash explained.

Dratini opened his mouth to respond but Ash cut him off.

"Don't give me that 'I'm strong enough to protect both of us.' I'm not saying that you aren't strong because you definitely are, I'm saying that because we were drastically out numbered and they would've swarmed you and everyone else." Ash said.

A irritated look came onto Dratini's face as he knew that Ash was right but he didn't want to admit that they would lose.

"Guys" Ash said as he looked at all of his team.

"I promise from now on, that if I am ever in any trouble that I will call on you guys to help me out. And I can guarantee that with the training that we will be doing that we don't have to worry about not being strong enough because we will become the strongest ever!" Ash said the last part with a huge grin on his face and a flame of determination in his eyes.

Dratini turned to Ash as he finished his mini speech and stared Ash in the eyes.

Ash stared back and they just stared at each other for a minute before Dratini nodded his head and slithered up to Ash and coiled around him as he usually does but he was careful not to put pressure on his ribs.

Ash smiled at Dratini and rubbed his head. Dratini leaned into Ash's hand and cooed.

The rest of Ash's team watched happily as their trainer and leader made up.

"Seriously guys, you all did an amazing job. Merlin I'm so proud of you for evolving, I can't wait to see what you can really do!" Ash said with a smile.

'Thank you young master.' Merlin responded as he nodded his head in respect.

*cough* *cough*

Ash and the rest of his team turned to Doctor Roy.

"Now that you all have made up, like I said earlier you have some guest that would like to see you. If you are ready I'll tell them to come in" Doctor Roy said.

"Go ahead and tell them I'm ready." Ash said.

Doctor Roy nodded and walked out of the room. A second later Brock came in looking very pissed off.

Ash saw Brock's pissed off face and whitened slightly.

"I swore I told you don't move didn't I." Brock said very calmly. Which kind of scared Ash.

"Y-You did but I had a really bad feeling that people were in trouble so I couldn't just sit there." Ash responded with a slight stutter.

"What if you had gotten hurt worse than you did or even killed? If I hadn't busted in when I did there is no telling what would've happened to you!" Brock said in a louder voice than before. Brock was careful not to yell as he knows there are other patients in the hospital trying to sleep.

Ash wanted to answer but he didn't have anything to say back, so he just hung his head.

Ash felt Dratini wrap the end of his tail around his arm and squeeze it for comfort.

Ash looked at Dratini and smiled.

Brock sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Even though I told you not to move, it was because of you that the Trainers were able to get free and get their pokémon back when they did."

"You also did the right thing but alrerting me in the first place, so I suppose that we should thank you for that." Brock said.

"Wait a second, you said we. Who else is here?" Ash asked curiously.

Almost as soon as Ash asked that question the door opened and a tall man came into the building. The man was about 6'2. He was dressed in dark blue pants that had orange pattern towards the top of his pants, his long sleeved shirt was also dark blue and had an orange pattern on it that matched. He finished his outfit with a long flowing black cape that was all red on the inside. The man has a black belt and black boots. The most distinguishing feature about the man was his red hair.

Ash and Dratini's eyes immediately widened at who came in the door.

The rest of Ash's team looked at the man and then their trainer and leader in confusion. Why are the both of them acting like this? They all wondered.

'Young master who is this man?' Merlin asked Ash.

Ash was almost too shocked to answer.

"That is Lance Wataru! He is the champion of Kanto AND Johto! He is one of the strongest trainers in the entire world! He holds the record for being the youngest person to ever become Champion at the age of 18! He has a record of 24-0 in his ten year reign in Johto, and 17-0 in Kanto! His favorite food is Tofu with miso on the side, his favorite color is Purple, and he has the world's strongest Dragonite as the cornerstone of his team!" Ash said quickly and excitedly.

Merlin looked at Lance again then back to Ash and nodded his head.

Lance stared at Ash, he was impressed and a bit creeped out that he knew all of that information about him.

"Looks like you already know me, that saves time on introductions." Lance said with a small smile.

"First I would like to thank you for all of your help with the Team Rocket situation. If you didn't alert the Brock the the League would've never known that they were there. So for that we at the league say Thank you." Lance said.

"Y-Y-You're welcome!" Ash stuttered.

"Now on to serious matters, we would like to you to tell us everything that you saw." Lance said.

As he finished that sentence an Officer Jenny walked into the room. It was starting to become cramped in the room.

"Officer Jenny is just here to document what you say. Please don't spare any details and tell us everything."

Ash nodded and took a deep breath, this would take a while.

* * *

Lance stood there and listened intently to everything Ash said. When Ash finished telling them everything he nodded his head.

"I speak for the league when I apologize for what you had to go through. We will ensure that something like that doesn't happen again." Lance said as he bowed to Ash.

Ash was caught completely off guard when Lance bowed to him.

"It's okay, after all you guys are the reason almost everyone was able to get out." Ash said as he waved his hands in front of himself.

Ash then remembered about to papers.

"I almost forgot!" Ash said as he looked around for his bag and found it in the chair in the corner of the room.

"Merlin can you give me my bag please." Ash asked.

'Of course young master.' Merlin said as Ash's bag as outlined in a cyan color and floated to Ash.

"Thanks!" Ash said as he looked through his bag. He quickly found the papers and handed them to Lance.

"These are the papers I found on the table inside the tent." Ash said as he handed them to Lance.

Lance looked at the papers and narrowed his eyes.

"Thank you Ash, I'm sure this will help the league considerably." Lance said.

"Well I'd love to stay and chat but I have a Gym to run, so I'll be making my leave." Brock said.

"I hope you have a quick recovery and best of luck on your journey Ash, if you ever need help on any rock type Pokémon give me a call and I should be able to help you out." Brock said as he left the room.

"If that's all the happened I should be leaving soon as well, I have to enter this into the computer to make sure it is documented." Officer Jenny said as she left the room not far behind Brock.

It was now just Ash, Lance and Ash's team in the room.

Lance walked up and squatted in front of Ash. Ash was confused as to why Lance was so close.

"If you don't mind I'd like to see your Dratini." Lance said.

"If that's alright with him then sure." Ash responded.

Dratini nodded his head and uncoiled from Ash and slithered to the floor in front of Lance.

Lance looked over Dratini a couple of times. He ran his hands down Dratini's scales on his back and felt the muscles under Dratini's scale.

Lance stood up and smiled.

"Dratini looks great, his scales are nice and tough while smooth at the same time. They are quite shiny which shows that his diet is great. I can feel the muscles under his scales which shows that he has been training all of the right muscles. I can tell that he will be pretty big when he is fully evolved. If you keep everything up he will be an absolute menace on the battlefield." Lance said with a smile.

Ash and Dratini has stars in their eyes. Dratini was proud to be praised by the world's strongest Dragon Type trainer. Ash was proud that The Champion of both Kanto and Johto had complimented how he was training Dratini.

'I could die happy!' Ash thought to himself.

Merlin chuckled to himself as he was reading Ash's mind.

"Well I have to go figure out what Team Rockets next move is. So I must take my leave, good luck on your journey Ash. I expect to see you in the conference." Lance said as he began to leave the room.

"Oh and by the way, avoid Team Rocket at all cost, if you run into them I want you to call the league immediately and go the other way. Let the league worry about Team Rocket." Lance said before he finally left.

After lance left Doctor Roy came back into the room.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm great!" Ash said in a stargaze.

Ash was so happy to be complimented by a champion that he temporarily forgot about the pain his was in.

"That's good because you have one more visitor." Doctor Roy said before the door opened.

Ash saw who entered the room and his eyes widened.

"Leaf?" Ash asked.

Leaf walked into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Hey Ash, how are you feeling?" Leaf asked while looking down and playing with the hem of her skirt.

"I've definitely been better, thanks!" Ash said.

"Not to be mean or anything but what are you doing here? Ash asked as he tried to sit up in bed but the pain in his ribs returned effectively making him lie back down.

"Are you okay?" Leaf said suddenly as she stepped forward to check on Ash but was stopped when she heard growling.

She turned her head to the side to the side and saw a huge Growlithe baring his sharp fangs at her ready to attack, Gaia on all fours with her poison pins standing ready to fire, and Merlin was floating as usual but his spoon and his eyes were cyan blue showing he was ready to protect his trainer.

Leaf took a step back and put her hands up out of fear that Ash's team might attack her.

Dratini turned to them and his teammates and growled at them letting them know to stand down.

"It's alright guys, she was with me in Mt. Moon during the whole Team Rocket fiasco. She is a friend." Ash said with a smile.

His team visibly relaxed at returned to relaxing around their trainer. Once the team was calmed down Dratini coiled up on Ash's hospital bed and laid his head down to take a nap.

Leaf let out a sigh of relief and and put her hands back down.

"They are quite protective over you aren't they?" Leaf said with a nervous chuckle.

"Yea they are honestly the best that I could ever ask for." Ash said as he smiled to all of them.

"Let me introduce you to them. You've already met but this is Dratini, my starter and partner in crime." Ash said as he rubbed the top of Dratini's head.

"How could I not remember him! How are you Dratini?" Leaf asked as she went to Dratini's eye level.

Dratini opened his eyes and gave Leaf a small smile before yawning again and laying his head back down.

"He has to be the laziest pokémon I know when he isn't training or battling." Ash laughed.

Leaf chuckled at that.

"The one meditating over there is Merlin. He is the smartest pokémon I've ever met outside of Professor Oak's Alakazam." Ash said as he gestured to Merlin.

Merlin merely opened one of his eyes to look at Leaf and nodded his head.

Leaf smiled at waved Merlin.

"Next up is Growlithe, he may look intimidating but he is a big softie." Ash said as Growlithe looked at Ash when he heard his name. Ash smiled and motioned him to come over. Once Growlithe was close he sat down next to Ash's bed and Ash ruffled the tuft of hair on top of his head.

"He is easily the biggest Growlithe I've ever seen! How did you manage to find him?" Leaf asked.

Ash's face instantly darkened and Growlithe seems to get a bit on edge.

"It's a long story that neither Growlithe or I feel completely comfortable telling yet." Ash said.

Now that Ash thought about it he forgot to get the reward for capturing the poacher last time he was here, he would make sure to get it when he made it to the Pokémon center.

"Oh sorry I asked." Leaf sad apologetically.

"It's alright, finally my newest team mate is Gaia. I caught her right before we entered Mt. Moon so we haven't gotten the chance to get to know each other as well as the rest of the team has, but from what I've seen she is going to be precious member of our team. Isn't that right?" Ash rhetorically asked.

Gaia nodded her head and gave a soft roar.

"Aw she is adorable!" Leaf said as she clasped her hands and put them next to her face.

Leaf went in to pet Gaia but stopped once she saw the poison pins on Gaia's back.

"You know I don't think I should let her with all of those pins on her back." Leaf laughed nervously.

"Well anyways that's our little team!" Ash said as he spread his arms out as if he was presenting them.

Leaf looked at all of them and smiled, "You all fit each other so well!"

"Thanks these guys are pretty much my family." Ash said with a smile.

That earned him a bigger smile from leaf.

"How is everyone else who were captured?" Ash asked moving to another subject.

"Everyone else is fine, they all got their pokémon back and have started to travel again. The League made everyone who was captured come to Pewter City's hospital to get an evaluation to make sure that everyone is alright. Once they were cleared by a doctor they were allowed to leave. There was only one person who…. well you know." Leaf said the last part in a mournful voice.

"That's good, I'm glad everyone is safe." Ash said.

"It's all thanks to you Ash, if you didn't come along I'm not sure any of us would be free….or alive." Leaf said as she slowly got closer to Ash.

Dratini heard Leaf coming closer and opened one eye to watch her.

"I don't know how I could ever thank you!" Leaf said as she continued to walk closer to Ash.

At this point all of Ash's pokémon we watching the two except for Merlin as he had a hunch as to what would happen already.

Leaf leaned in and gave Ash a kiss on the cheek that was closer to his lips than his actual cheek.

Dratini's eyes snapped open and were as wide as they could possible be. As he started at the two.

Growlithe tilted his head in confusion, he doesn't understand humans way of showing affection.

Gaia simply smiled and laid back down to relax.

Merlin gave a small smirk. 'Looks like young master found a young mistress.' Merlin thought to himself.

Leaf pulled back from the kiss and smiled with a massive blush that could put a Charmeleon to shame.

"T-That's my little Thank you!" Leaf said nervously as she stepped back.

Ash held his hand to where Leaf had just kissed him and a blush cane to his face that matched Leaf's.

"Y-You're welcome!" Ash said with a smile that made him look rather goofy.

"I should probably get going, I want to make it to Cerulean City soon." Leaf said ash she started to turn and head for the door.

"Maybe I'll see you around Ash Ketchum." Leaf said with a smile and gave Ash a wink before she opened the door to leave.

"Yea, you just might Leaf ….." Ash started.

"Leaf Evergreen." Leaf finished.

"I'll see you around Leaf Evergreen." Ash said as he tried to put on the coolest smile he could possibly muster.

Leaf chuckled, "I hope so!" She said as she left the room.

Ash smiled and sighed as he laid his head back down on the pillow behind him.

He saw Dratini looking at him and laughing at him.

"What?" Ash asked.

'Looks like you have found yourself a mistress young master.' Merlin said in a jokingly tone.

Ash blushed again and laid back down.

"She is JUST a friend!" Ash said defensively.

* * *

Ash and Dratini stepped through the front doors of the hospital and was happy to take in a breath of the good outdoors again. It was a bright and sunny day, perfect for continuing his journey.

Doctor Roy made him wait for two days before releasing him from the hospital.

Ash was grateful technology was advanced as it was. They had used Ditto cells to help Ash recover faster. His ribs were almost healed and his black eye was all but gone.

Doctor Roy has informed him to take it easy for the next couple of days and not to do anything to rash as his ribs still weren't finished healing.

Ash made his way to the Pokémon center.

Ash walked in and saw Nurse Joy standing there as usual.

Nurse Joy saw Ash and smiled.

"Welcome back Ash! I thought you were going to Cerulean City?" Nurse Joy asked.

"I was but we ran into some trouble that forced us to come back here." Ash answered.

"Well I'm glad that you are alright, what can I do for you?" Nurse Joy asked.

"I should have a package from the League waiting here for me." Ash said.

"Yes you do, I forgot to tell you about it because you were so excited about winning your gym badge. Let me grab it for you." Nurse Joy said as she went to the back room for a second and came back with an envelope.

"Thanks Nurse Joy!" Ash said as he accepted the envelope.

"It's no problem!" Nurse Joy said as she returned to her computer work.

Ash walked over to the lounge and sat down as he opened the envelope.

Two pieces of paper were inside. Ash grabbed one and read it. Dratini nudged Ash's Hess as if asking what it said.

"It's a voucher for any one item from the Celadon department store." Ash said with a smile.

Ash already knew he was going to get a permanent T.M since they cost an arm and a leg.

Ash grabbed the other paper and saw that he is supposed to give this one to Nurse Joy.

Ash walked back over to Nurse Joys desk.

"Nurse Joy, this paper says I have to give this to you?" Ash questioned as he handed her the paper.

Nurse Joy read the paper and set it down.

"Ash can I see your pokédex for a second?" She asked.

"Sure." Ash said as he pulled out his pokédex and handed it to her.

Nurse Joy took his pokédex and slid it into a slot in her computer. She typed on her computer for a minute before Ash's pokédex slid out the slot.

Nurse Joy grabbed it and handed it back to Ash.

"There you go!" Nurse Joy said.

"What did you do?" Ash asked.

"I added funds to your trainer account, the letter told me to add 5,000 pokedollars to you account." Nurse Joy said.

Ash's jaw dropped.

With that much money he could buy one or two .

Ash lifted his jaw and immediately began to plan which he wanted to buy.

"Thanks Nurse Joy!" Ash said as he began to leave the Pokémon center.

"Be safe Ash!" Nurse Joy called as he left.

* * *

It's been two day since Ash left Pewter City to head back to Mt. Moon.

Ash was about a day away from Mt. Moon and he had to make sure that they caught up to where they should be.

Ash had discussed it with his team and they decided they would put off the morning training sessions so that they could catch up on traveling to make up for the time that they lost in the hospital.

While e was in the hospital he looked up moves that Gaia would be able to learn as a Nidoran and all the way up to a Nidoqueen. He was very excited to start training her.

While he was in the hospital he also looked up how to increase her toxicity levels. He read that her poison gets more toxic as she gets older and with training it should increase that much more. He also read that a good diet will help as well.

Ash and Dratini were walking down the path to Mt. Moon when he could begin to see the outline of the giant mountain.

Ash looked at Dratini and smiled before taking off for the mountain.

He couldn't wait to actually get through Mt. Moon this time!

* * *

 **So that's the chapter! Hopefully you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm finally out of school for the semester so hopefully I can get a chapter out every two weeks or so.**

 **Thank you to everyone who left a review letting me know how I'm doing, you guys are amazing!**

 **Like I always say, I'm up for suggestions for Pokémon that Ash should catch, I want to give Ash a unique team that you don't normally see. I've had so many debates with myself about which water type I should give Ash. I thought about giving him a Vaporeon but I feel like it wouldn't fit his team the way I would want it to.**

 **Thanks for reading guys! Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! Thank you guys for all the reviews that you guys have been leaving, they help my writing a ton. I told you guys I would try to get chapter more frequently and I'm trying to stick with it!**

 **I've been doing a lot of thinking and even though I said I only want Ash to catch Kanto Pokémon I think I might break that idea. I was thinking I'd rather give Ash quality instead of quantity so I've decided to only give Ash a handful of Pokémon through the whole story. So far I have about 8 planned out. If I see a Pokémon that I think will fit his team then I will add them, and don't count out any pokémon because I have a very bad habit of changing my mind. Anyways, enough of my rambling. Enjoy the chapter!**

 **I don't own Pokémon or anything, I now present The Road Ahead.**

* * *

Ash and his team have spent another day of traveling before they finally made it to Mt. Moon. As Ash and his team agreed on before, they put off their morning training sessions which helped them reach Mt. Moon faster than they did the first time.

Ash looked at the huge mountain and a small frown grew on his face. The memories of what happened inside of this mountain will always remain inside of him.

Dratini noticed his trainers hesitation and used his tail to squeeze Ash's hand for reassurance.

"Thanks bud." Ash said with a faint smile.

Ash took a deep breath and began to make his way into the mountain for the second time.

Ash walked into the mountain and just like last time it was dark at first. After a couple dozen feet or so Ash's eyes began to adjust to the darkness. The mountain wasn't too dark as the league had dim lights hanging on the walls making sure trainers know where to go and aren't left in the dark. The lights were bright enough that left the path visible but isn't bright enough to disturb the Pokémon living inside of the mountain.

Ash stopped for a second to let his eyes completely adjust before looking around. It looked the same as it did the first time,

"What are the chances of Team Rocket still being here?" Ash asked himself.

Ash took a deep breath and began to make his way through the cave.

* * *

After about an hour of walking Ash realizes that this is where they first encountered the two grunts. Ash kept walking but he was clearly tense. Dratini could feel his bestfriend going through it so he wrapped his tail around Ash's hand for comfort.

Ash smiled and continued to walk.

It wasn't long before Ash and Dratini came upon the clearing where everything happened. It looked much different then it did previously.

For starters it was much darker. The league went through Mt. Moon and took down all of the lights that Team Rocket had taken down.

Ash could faintly see where they were digging looking for the Moon Stone.

Now that Ash thought about it he needed a Moon Stone for Gaia whenever she was ready to evolve.

Ash steeled himself and began to make his was through the clearing. Ash released the rest of his team.

They all materialized and looked around. They instantly recognized where they were at and immediately got into battle position.

"It's alright guys, nobody is here besides us. It's just- I would feel better if you guys were out here with me right now." Ash said in a soft tone.

Growlithe walked up and nuzzled Ash's side.

Gaia did the same but made sure not to accidentally stab Ash.

Merlin simply nodded.

Ash smiled, he truly had the best team that anyone could ask for.

* * *

Ash was inside Mt. Moon for about a day and a half. Since they were inside of a cave Ash and his team couldn't train because the space was too small. Since they couldn't train due to the lack of space, they decided to try to get through Mt. Moon as fast as possible.

Over the time they ran into two other trainers. Ash wasn't really in the mood to battle so he simply nodded his head at the trainers and continued walking. They also ran into a number of pokémon that lived inside of the cave.

They ran into quite a few Geodude, some Paras, a Parasect, more Zubat than he could count, a couple Golbat, and a single Clefairy. He considered trying to catch the Clefairy but the Clefairy saw Ash and ran away before Ash had the chance to battle it. He thought about chasing it but he decided against it as he would probably get lost and would spend more time in the mountain that he really wanted to.

Ash looked down at his pokégear and saw that it was starting to get late in the afternoon.

"According to the pokégear we should be close to the exit." Ash said to Dratini.

Dratini lifted his head from Ash's shoulder and seemed to be looking at something. Dratini uncoiled some of his tail from Ash and used it to point at a sign.

Ash noticed Dratini pointing to something and walked over to the sign.

"You are nearing the end of Mt. Moon, the exit is an hours walk." Ash read out loud.

Ash smiled at that.

"Let's go bud, we are getting out of here tonight!" Ash said as he continued to walk forward.

Ash and Dratini walked for about an hour before they could see some light coming from an opening in the mountain.

Ash brightened and started to run towards the opening.

Ash ran through the opening and is greeted with the bright beautiful stars lighting up the night sky. Ash has to cover his eyes since his eyes are still used to the darkness of the mountain.

"I didn't know how much I took fresh air for granted until I was inside Mt. Moon." Ash said.

Dratini nodded his head and uncoiled from Ash so he could stretch.

Ash heard a rumbling sound coming from Dratini. Ash laughed at his Bestfriend's stomach.

"Considering nobody's has eaten dinner tonight I think now is a good time to set up camp and eat dinner." Ash said.

Dratini trilled in agreement.

"Why don't I let everyone else out for some fresh air too." Ash said as he released everyone.

They materialized and looked around before they looked at Ash.

'I see that we are finally out of the dreadful mountain' Merlin said.

"As much as I hate to call places dreadful I would have to say your right about that one Merlin." Ash said.

"Anyways, we are setting up camp for the night. I'll make dinner and we will hit the sack. I think that we should all start sleeping outside when we are on the road so we can get closer to each other and also watch each other's backs." Ash said with a smile.

Everyone seemed to have no problems with this and nodded at Ash.

Ash smiled at them and took his backpack off of his bag and began to set up camp.

"Merlin can you find some firewood?" Ash asked.

'Of course Young Master.' Merlin said as he teleported off to find firewood.

Merlin returned after a couple minutes with a good amount of firewood.

"Thank you bud!" Ash said as he laid some of the firewood down and put some of it off to the side for later.

'It is my pleasure Young Master.' Merlin replied.

"Growlithe would you mind starting the fire for us?" Ash asked.

Growlithe yippee happily and shot a small Ember at the fire and lit up the fire wood.

"Thanks Growlithe!" Ash said as he let the top of Growlithe's head.

Ash reached into his bag and pulled out the stuff he needed for dinner.

Ash quickly made everyone's dinner and put it in their bowls.

"Alright guys, time to eat!" Ash said as he watched his team eat their food.

As his team ate he reached into his bag and grabbed a trainer meal and began to eat that.

Ash finished eating before his team. After Ash finished his meal he put the empty container back into his bag and laid on top of his sleeping bag.

"As you guys know we are getting close to Cerulean City. Cerulean also has a gym that we are going to Challenge." Ash said to his team.

They all stopped eating temporarily and looked at Ash when he mentioned the gym.

"Its a water type gym, from what I've seen online it is a 2-2 battle." Ash said.

Growlithe grimaced at the sound of water.

"Don't worry Growlithe, I wouldn't use you in this gym." Ash said with a slight chuckle.

"I was thinking and I think that I want Merlin and Gaia to be in this battle." Ash said.

Dratini narrowed his eyes at Ash. He wanted to be in this gym battle too!

"Everyone gets a chance to be in a gym battle, you already had your gym challenge Dratini so you can stop giving me that look." Ash said not even bothering to look at Dratini. He already knew his partner wouldn't be happy about being left out of this gym battle.

Dratini rolled his eyes and continued to eat.

'I will not let you down Young Master.' Merlin said.

"Thanks Merlin." Ash said as he shot Merlin a smile.

Gaia smiled brightly and gave a soft roar. Even though she hasn't been with Ash long she is glad that he trust her enough to give her a chance to battle a gym leader.

Ash smiled at Gaia.

"We just need income up with a game plan on how to battle them. I'm pretty sure neither of you can swim very well. So we need to make sure that we don't fall into the water. I looked up online and it said that there are platforms on the battlefield that allow Pokémon who can't swim to battle." Ash said.

Merlin and Gaia nodded at that.

"Anyways that enough about that for now, go ahead and finish eating. Leave all of strategy and planning for me." Ash said.

His team nodded and went back to eating.

* * *

After they finished eating Ash put their bowls into his bag.

Ash put out the campfire and laid inside of his sleeping bag.

Everyone found where they wanted to sleep. Of course Dratini slithered inside of Ash's sleeping bag and got comfortable before laying his head down and quickly falling asleep.

Growlithe was right next to Ash's sleeping bag, he was curled up and he put his head on top of his paws. Growlithe radiated the perfect amount of heat from himself that allowed Ash to go to sleep warmer than usual.

Merlin doesn't really go to sleep. He just floats and meditates close to where the campfire was.

Gaia curled up around Ash's feet and quickly went to sleep.

* * *

It was the next morning and Ash woke up bright and early. He sat up causing Dratini to squirm in his sleep but went back into a comfortable position and went right back to sleep.

Ash rolled his eyes and looked at the rest of his team. Growlithe and Gaia's ears poked up and looked at Ash as he sat up. Ash smiled at them and got up to complete his morning hygienics. Luckily while Ash was looking for a river to wash his face in he found a good sized clearing to train in.

After Ash was done he woke up the rest of his team up. In other words just Dratini. Merlin was never really asleep and Growlithe and Gaia were already awake.

"Time for some training!" Ash said happily.

Dratini sleepily slithered out of the sleeping bag and slithered in front of Ash.

Once everyone was lined up in front of Ash he began to give orders on what he wanted to get done.

"Alright first we will work on speed, after that we will work on our moves. Merlin I want you teleport all over the clearing as fast as you can." Ash announced.

They all nodded and got to work.

Ash went to the side a and stretched for a couple minutes before taking off to run with his team.

Ash attached weights to Dratini and Growlithe then sent them off to work on speed for about 30 minutes before stopping to take a break.

Ash walked over to his bag and pulled out a couple of berries and fed them to his team to restore some of their energy.

After his team regained some of their energy they moved on to move training.

"Dratini, I want you to keep working on the speed of your attacks."

Dratini nodded and went off to increase the speed of his attacks.

"Growlithe how is your Fire Fang?"

Growlithe barked and bared his fangs. A flame cloaked his teeth but quickly went out. Growlithe then put a dejected look on his face.

"That's alright bud, that's why we are training so we can nail those moves when we need to!" Ash said as he rubbed the top of Growlithe's head.

Growlithe smiles and barked at Ash.

"Atta boy! Go and get to work, I'll be over as soon as I can." Ash said.

Growlithe gave an affirmative bark and went to work.

"Gaia and Merlin I want you to with me. I haven't really gotten a feel for your abilities yet." Ash said.

Ash looked around and saw a boulder not to far from where he stood.

"Gaia use Poison Sting on that boulder." Ash said as he pointed to the boulder.

Gaia nodded and rested her head back and shot off a large number of thin purple needles. They pierced the rock and faded away after a brief second.

Ash smiled, her poison looked impressive.

"Great job, your poison looks potent. I have no doubt that your poison could poison anything once you get stronger." Ash praised.

Gaia preened at her trainers praise.

"Now let's try Double Kick, use the same rock." Ash said.

Gaia nodded and ran towards the boulder and jumped. Her feet glowed a bright orange color and she kicked the boulder with one foot and then the other.

After each kick a large dent was left in the rock. After both kicks there was one very deep and large dent in the boulder.

Ash's eyes were wide in surprise. He looked at the rock and then at Gaia. How could such a small pokémon have so much power inside of her.

A wide smile grew on Ash's face. "THAT WAS AMAZING!" Ash almost screamed.

Once again Gaia shined under Ash's praise.

"Last one, use scratch!" Ash said.

Gaia ran to the boulder and her claws became covered in normal type energy and she slashed at the boulder leaving a good sized slash in the boulder.

Once again Ash was impressed by Gaia's attack power.

"Great job Gaia! What I want you to work on is your Poison Sting. Your Poison Sting's aim is a little off and I also want you to work on how fast you can shoot it. Other than that you look great!" Ash said with a smile.

Gaia nodded her head and went to go work on her Posion Sting.

Ash turned to Merlin and grinned.

"Alright Merlin, let's see what you can do. Let's start with your telekinesis." Ash said.

'Of course Young Master.' Merlin said.

Merlin turned to the boulder that Gaia previously demonstrated her moves on. His eyes then turned cyan and the boulder began to float up. The boulder floated well above Ash's head and began to go in a circular motion before Merlin out the boulder back down in complete control.

Ash grinned like a maniac at the display of power. He was already coming up with strategies with Merlin's telekinetic powers.

"Very impressive bud!" Ash said.

'Thank you Young Master.' Merlin said.

"Let's see Confusion." Ash said.

Merlin crossed his spoons and a large psychic blast shot out and blasted an even bigger dent then Gaia left.

'If his Confusion is this strong then his Psybeam must be extremely powerful.' Ash thought to himself as he rubbed his hands together maniacally.

"Let's try Psybeam." Ash said with a large grin.

Merlin nodded his head and shot a beam of psychic energy that cleanly blasted a hole the rest of the way through the rock. The beam continued for a short period of time and crashed into a nearby tree.

Ash stood there in shock before giving a borderline evil smile.

"THAT WAS PERFECT!" Ash shouted.

'Thank you young master.' Merlin replied.

"I saw you teleport earlier and I noticed that your flash from it has gone down a good bit." Ash said.

'Indeed it has.' Merlin replied.

"Alright, I want you to work a move called Hypnosis." Ash said as he pulled his pokéball out to find videos on other Pokémon using the move.

After Ash found a video that he though was good enough he showed Merlin. Merlin watched the video one time and teleported away to practice the move.

As his whole team was practicing moves he went to go sit under a tree and go over strategies that he thought would work for this gym.

* * *

After training Ash made his team breakfast, to which the devoured rather quickly, and began to make their way to Cerulean City.

Ash returned everyone but Dratini because they all wanted to rest after training. Dratini refuses to be recalled into his pokéball because he felt like someone needs to stay out with Ash, and if anybody is going to do it then it will be him.

Ash had already been walking for about four hours before he saw a good sized river. Ash smiled at this because he knew that when he began to run into rivers and lakes then Cerulean wouldn't be far.

After about another hours walk they had finally made it to Cerulean City.

Ash pulled out his pokégear and immediately went to the map app and found directions to the pokémon center.

As Ash was making his way to the pokémon center he noticed that the river that he saw earlier is one of the main focuses of this city. It was clear that this city loved water pokémon since a lot of the buildings had blue paint somewhere on the building. Some of the houses had blue roofs, some had the whol building painted blue, the fences were painted blue for crying out loud.

After walking for about ten minutes Ash found the Pokémon center.

It had about six other trainers inside. Some were waiting as their pokémon were getting healed. A few other trainers were I the lounge area watching the news. Finally, one of them were at the video phones, which reminded him that he needed to call back home.

Ash walked in and went straight to Nurse Joys desk. When Nurse Joy saw him she put on a routine but friendly smile.

"Hello! Welcome the Cerulean City's pokémon center. How can I help you?" Nurse Joy said happily.

"I'd like to heal my team and get a room for a couple of days." Ash said as he took the pokeballs off of his belt and handed them to her.

He turned to Dratini and held up his pokeball.

"You know the drill, I'll pick you guys back up as soon as you are finished." Ash said.

Dratini just rolled his eyes as Ash recalled him into his pokeball and handed it to Nurse Joy.

"Thank you, it should be about half an hour." Nurse Joy said.

She typed in a something into her computer and reached under her desk to grab a key.

"Your room is 1G." Nurse Joy said as she handed Ash his key.

"Thanks Nurse Joy!" Ash said as he went to his room to drop off his things and quickly made his way to the video phones.

Ash dialed the number to his mothers dinner and waited.

"Delia's Diner how can I help you?" A voice said out of routine but once they saw who was on the screen they gave a small shriek.

"Oh my Arceus! Ashy how are you?" Delia asked.

"I'm fine mom, we just made it to Cerulean City!" Ash said with a smile.

"You should've been there for a couple days already, eh are you just now getting there?" Deli asked.

Ash knew that he shouldn't tell his mom abottthe Team Rocket incident or she would have a heart attack and probably try to make him come home immediately.

"We has a little setback but it was nothing to be concerned about." Ash lied.

"Okay Ashy, I'm just glad you are safe. Have you caught any new team members?" Delia asked.

"Yea I actually caught a female Nidoran. Her name is Gaia and I can already tell that she will be incredible when she evolves." Ash said excitedly.

"I'm sure she will try her best for you Ashy! Anyways I need to get back to work, people are starting to come in for lunch so it's about to get busy." Delia said with a slightly sad tone.

"Okay mom, I'll call you after my gym battle to let you know how it went." Ash said.

"Do your best and I have no doubt that you will win! I'll talk to you later son, I love you!" Delia said.

"I love you too mom!" Ash said as the connection went dead.

Ash called Professor Oak's number and waited for a couple of seconds before he got an answer.

"Professor Oak's lab how can I help you?" An elderly man answered.

"Hey Professor it's me! I just made it to Cerulean City!" Ash said enthusiastically.

"Ah Ash my boy! How are you?" Professor Oak asked with a smile.

"I'm good Professor, I caught a female Nidoran and I'm going to challenge the gym soon." Ash replied.

"I saw that you caught a Nidoran. Gary also has a Nidoran of his own." Professor Oak said.

Ash grimaced at the name of his rival. It's not like he didn't like Gary it's just… it's just…. you know what, now that he thought about it, he really didn't like Gary at all. He remembered how much of a jerk Gary always was. He always rubbed the fact that he was Professor Oak's son in everyone's face.

Professor Oak saw the look on Ash's face he quickly changed the subject.

"Ash my boy, I have a friend that lives on the route right above Cerulean. His name is Bill. He is quite knowledgeable on just about all Pokémon. I think that you should give him a visit so he can evaluate your team. He will be able to give you some pointers on areas your team needs to work on." Professor Oak said.

"Sounds good to me! I'll probably head over there as soon as I get my team back." Ash said.

"Alright my boy, be safe. Call me if you have any questions." Professor Oak said.

"I will Professor! I'll talk to you later!" Ash said as that connection went dead.

Ash got up from the video phone and decided that he would take a quick walk around the city to see what it has to offer after he got his team back.

After about twenty minutes Ash heard his name called on the over head.

Ash went to Nurse Joys desk and got his team back.

As soon as Dratini's ball touched his hand he released himself and coiled around Ash.

Ash just rolled his eyes and made his way to the cafeteria. He still needed to feed his team lunch and he was feeling kind of hungry himself.

* * *

After Ash and his team ate lunch they began to explore the city. Dratini was coiled around Ash as usual and they were currently sight seeing.

Now that Ash really looked around the city he quickly realized that Cerulean didn't really have much. Just business buildings and homes.

Ash spotted what looked like a shop that sells bikes and decided to check it out.

Ash and Dratini walked into the bike shop and saw that besides them there was only one other person inside and he was behind the counter reading a book. When he saw that Ash has walked inside he gave a friendly smile.

Ash smiled back and began to look at all of the bikes. Ash looked for a couple of minutes before the clerk came from behind the counter to see if Ash needed any help.

"No thank you, I'm just looking around." Ash said with a small smile.

The clerk nodded his head and went back to the counter to continue reading the book.

Ash looked some more and found a bike that caught his interest. He looked at the price tags and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. They wanted 100,000 pokedollars for a bike?

He would much rather walk then to pay that ridiculous price for a bike.

He quickly left the store after seeing that almost all of the bikes in the store are way above his price range.

They began to walk around the city some more when Ash suddenly heard cheering.

He decided to just head back to the pokémon center but he found out that the cheering was coming from inside the pokémon gym which was only about a five minute walk from the Pokémon center.

Ash walked inside the gym and saw that there was some sort of show going on.

Ash quickly walked in and found a seat.

When Ash sat down the lights in the building suddenly shut off and the crowd began to murmur in wonder as to why the lights suddenly shut off.

There was suddenly spot lights that shined at the top of a very high diving platform.

On top of the platform we're three beautiful women. There was a blonde, a bluenette, and a pinkette. From the looks of it they all absolutely loved to be in the spotlight.

"Thank you all for coming! This is our final trick for this performance!" The blonde announced.

All three girls suddenly jumped off of the platform and began to do backflips. Right before they hit the water the straightened out and dove into the water. Their technique was almost perfect as there was hardly a splash. Ash noticed a slight cyan color around the three girls which told them that they must have a psychic type somewhere in the gym.

The girls re-emerged from the water and began to do play with their pokémon in a performance like manner.

When they finished the crowd erupted in cheers and they gave the girls and their pokémon a standing ovation.

Ash left the gym and noticed that it was beginning to get late so he walked back to the pokémon center. He went out back for an evening training session. After the training session they ate dinner and went to bed.

The next morning Ash and his team trained again and ate breakfast.

After breakfast Ash began to head towards the route that is above Cerulean city.

Ash saw a sign that said that there is a bridge that offered a challenge to any trainer. If you can beat all five trainers on the bridge then you get a reward.

Ash's eyes suddenly had a determined look to them, he was more than willing to take on that challenge.

As Ash go closer to the bridge he saw something that immediately put a grimace on his face.

Dratini noticed his trainers shift in moods and looked around to see what caused it.

When Dratini saw what it was he began to growl softly.

A red convertible was driving up to them and suddenly stopped about twenty feet in front of Ash and Dratini.

A kid hopped out and it was nobody else but the one and only Gary Oak.

"Well well well, look who the Meowth dragged in." Gary said with a smirk on his face.

"I could say the same to you. I see you are still riding around in that car instead of walking like a normal trainer." Ash retorted.

"Why should I walk when I have a care full of beautiful girls with me who are always cheering for me." Gary said back with the smirk still on his face.

"Whatever Gary." Ash said as he started to walk to walk past Gary.

"How about we have a little battle to see how much batter I am than you and your weak pokémon." Gary said.

Ash stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to Gary and gave a smile that kind of creeped Gary out.

"You know what, I accept your challenge. It's about time someone knocked you off your high horse." Ash said determinedly.

"3-3?" Gary asked.

Ash simple nodded his head.

Gary smirked and pulled released his first pokémon.

Ash reached for his belt and released a Pokémon of his own.

Merlin was released for his pokéball. Merlin realized he is in a battle and got into battle position.

The pokémon that came out of Gary's pokéball was very familiar.

Gary released a Growlithe of his own. The only difference is that his was much smaller than Ash's. This Growlithe is most likely normal size for Growlithe.

"Let's start this off with Dig!" Gary shouted.

"Wait for him to come up and use Confusion to stop him!" Ash shouted.

Growlithe barked and affirmative and began to burrow his way underground. Ash and Merlin waited for about thirty seconds before Merlin looked at a spot next to him and moved out of the way.

As soon as Merlin moves Growlithe burst out of the ground ready to strike only to be held up by Confusion.

"Slam him into the ground!" Ash shouted.

"Quick when he is about to slam you into the ground use Dig!" Gary countered.

Merlin flicked his spoons in a downward motion and sent Growlithe hurtling to the ground. Unfortunately for Gary Growlithe couldn't harness the energy in his paws fast enough and was slammed into the ground.

"Use Psybeam!" Ash shouted.

"Use Flamethrower!" Gary countered.

The two Pokémon charged their moves and shot them at each other. The two attacks met each other and began to battle for dominance. Merlin's Psybeam slowly began push back Growlithe's Flamethrower.

"Put some more power into it!" Gary shouted.

Suddenly Growlithe's Flamethrower slowly but surely began to push Merlin's Psybeam back. As it was getting close to Merlin the two attacks exploded.

There was a large explosion that caused dust to get kicked up in the air.

After about a minute or two the dust began to clear. Merlin had taken quite a bit of damage from the explosion.

"Merlin are you alright?" Ash asked.

'I will be alright, I could not teleport fast enough to escape the brunt of the explosion.' Merlin replied in a tired tone.

'If Merlin couldn't escape the explosion then there is no way that Growlithe could escape the explosion.' Ash thought to himself.

When Ash looked around He noticed that Growlithe was nowhere to be found and there was now a new hole in the ground.

"Watch out, he is underground he could-" Ash started but was cut off.

"NOW!" Gary yelled.

Merlin used his telekinetic powers to sense where Growlithe was but unfortunately he wasn't having any luck.

Growlithe suddenly burst out of the ground with his teeth covered in Dark type energy.

Growlithe bit on Merlin's leg rather hard which caused Merlin to let out a loud screech.

Although Merlin was in intense pain due to the super effective move he crossed his spoons and shot a Psybeam at Growlithe from point blank range.

Due to Dark type energy in his system Psybeam was significantly weaker. It still did its job of knocking Growlithe off and stunning him nonetheless.

Merlin was visibly sagging. It was clear that he wouldn't last much longer.

"Are you okay Merlin?" Ash asked.

'I- ok-y' Merlin tried to respond.

"It's okay, save your energy. Lets just get this battle over with. Let's finish this with Psybeam!" Ash said.

Merlin nodded and crossed his spoons and charged his attack.

"Get out of there!" Gary shouted but Lady Luck wasn't on his side. Growlithe tried to get up and move out of the way but he had also taken damage from the previous explosion which had finally taken its effect.

Merlin crossed his spoons and shot a Psybeam at the down puppy. The beam knocked Growlithe back about a dozen feet and he slid right in front of Gary.

Gary looked at Growlithe and it was clear the puppy was knocked out.

Once Gary returned Growlithe Ash returned Merlin.

"Thank you Merlin. You did great!" Ash said to Merlin's pokéball.

Merlin's pokéball shook slightly then went still.

Gary ground his teeth and reached for another pokéball on his belt. Ash also reached for another pokéball and they released them at the same time.

To both of their surprise the same pokémon was released.

Gaia and Gary's Nidoran stared at each other.

Both Nidoran growled at each other but Gary's Nidoran seemed to have a slight red glow around her.

"Use Growl!" They both shouted at once.

Gaia and Nidoran both growled at each other trying their best to intimidate the other.

"Use Poison Sting followed by Double Kick!" Ash shouted.

"Dodge and use Tail Whip!" Gary shouted.

Gaia shot a flurry of poisonous needles at the other Nidoran, but the Nidoran was agile and dodged the majority of the needles.

Gaia ran in immediately after she fired her poison sting and jumped for a Double Kick.

Gary's Nidoran proved once again that it was the more agile Nidoran as she also dodged Gaia's Double Kick.

Gary's Nidoran turned and used Tail Whip which softened Gaia's defense.

"You'll never hit her moving that slow Ashy boy, While she is close show her how to use Scratch!" Gary shouted.

Gary's Nidoran charged at Gaia quickly and reared her claws back and threw them forward effectively scratching Gaia.

Gaia cried out in pain.

"Gaia are you alright?" Ash asked.

Gaia shook the attack off and nodded her head.

"Good! Use Poison Sting again, followed up by Scratch!" Ash shouted.

Gaia once again began to shoot a flurry of poisonous needles at the other Nidoran and started to run behind them.

Gary's Nidoran tried its best to dodge all of the poison needles but once again some of them still hit her.

Once Gaia was in prime position to attack she reared her claws back and struck Nidoran. Nidoran was sent sliding back a foot or two.

Gary's Nidorans eyes seemed to be red out of anger for a brief second before she charged at Gaia and used a flurry of attacks.

The attacks were so sudden that Gaia didn't get the chance to dodge all of them.

Gaia screamed in pain and suddenly stopped.

Gaia went limp and had swirls in her eyes.

"That's one down Ashy boy! That's how a real Nidoran battles." Gary said smugly.

Ash returned Gaia with a sad look on his face.

"Thank you for your hard work, it won't be in vain." Ash said as he felt Gaia's pokéball slightly shake and go silent.

Gary returned his Nidoran and smiled.

Both Gary and Ash knew exactly who they were using for the final round of their first battle against each other.

"Let's crush them Wartortle!"

"Let's go Dratini!"

Both trainers said at the same time.

Wartortle materialized on the battlefield and delivered a strong sounding roar.

Dratini slithered off of Ash's body and matched Wartortle's roar with and equally loud roar.

"Now it's time to see exactly who is the stronger trainer!" Gary said with a wild grin on his face.

"I couldn't agree more!" Ash said with an equally wild grin.

"Start off with Cyclone!" Gary shouted.

"Huh?" Was all Ash said as Wartortle went inside his shell and began to use Rapid Spin, after spinning for a couple of seconds to build up speed Wartortle began to shoot out Water Gun out of his shell. It would be a lie if Ash said the name of that move didn't throw him off.

Ash quickly recovered, "Dodge and use Iron Tail!"

Dratini couldn't fully dodge the attack and was whiplashed by the powerful water jets.

Dratini recovered quickly and coated his tail in Steel type energy ready to slam it on Wartortle.

However, Wartortle wasn't going to let it happen as it continued to use Rapid Spin to move out of the way.

Ash could already tell that trying to hit this Wartortle would be a pain.

"Quick Agility into Wrap!" Ash shouted.

Dratini focused and slipped into Agility. His improved speed proved to be useful against Wartortle as Dratini sped up to Wartortle and wrapped him in his long body and began to squeeze him.

Gary smirked.

"Use Bite!" Gary said.

Wartortle came out of his shell and chomped down on Dratini's tail.

"Fight through it and use Dragon Rage!" Ash shouted.

Gary's eyes widened.

"Use Withdraw quick!" Gary countered.

Dratini charged up Dragon Rage at a good pace and fired it at the turtle at point blank range.

Wartortle was blasted a good twenty feet. It's shell was smoking and was slightly charred. Wartortle climbed out of his shell for the most part unharmed.

Gary gave a sigh of relief and was ready to continue.

"Use Skull Bash!" Gary shouted.

"Don't let him get the chance! Use Twister, you know what to do next!" Ash said.

Wartortle readied his head and shot towards Dratini. His head was glowing with normal type energy and was ready to slam into Dratini.

However, Dratini summoned a Twister right underneath Wartortle effectively throwing him into the air and into the draconic tornado.

Wartortle was grimacing in pain as he was tossed around the Twister.

"Use Withdraw!" Gary shouted in panic.

Wartortle once again slid inside his shell in an attempt to hide from the dragon type energy.

Dratini released the Twister and let Wartortle fly towards him. When Wartortle was close enough Dratini charged his Iron Tail and smacked Wartortle's shell.

"Quick use Water Gun!" Gary shouted.

Wartortle poked his head out of his shell and shot a high pressure stream of water at Dratini hitting him in the middle of his chest sending him backwards a couple of feet.

"Use Ice Beam!" Gary shouted.

It was Ash's turn to widen his eyes.

"Use Agility to get away!" Ash shouted in panic.

Dratini used Agility and ran around Wartortle effectively dodging the Ice Beam. In the process of trying to chase Dratini with Ice Beam, Wartortle froze a good portion of the battle field.

"Use Wrap followed by Thunder Wave!" Ash shouted.

Dratini closed in and wrapped around Wartortle. He immediately sent a weak electrical current to Wartortle paralyzing the turtle.

Gary cursed under his breath, he has to find a way to finish the battle. He knew Wartortle's shell wouldn't be able to take much more damage before it cracks.

Gary then realized that they were in prime position to hit Dratini.

"Use Ice Beam!" Gary shouted.

Wartotle opened his mouth and launched an Ice Beam at point blank range into Dratini's face.

Dratini screamed in pain while he was sent flying back, he eventually slammed into a tree and fell to the ground.

Dratini went still. Gary puffed his chest out, Wartotle copied his trainer and puffed his chest out as well. They had this battle won.

Ash hung his head and was about to return Dratini until he saw Dratini get up shakily. The look in Dratini's eyes was a determined fire that refused to go out.

Gary's eyes narrowed.

"Put that puny dragon out of its misery!" Gary shouted as he pointed to Dratini.

Ash knew he only had about one move left before Dratini would be our of energy.

"Dratini use Dragon Rage, full power!" Ash shouted with a voice full of emotion.

Wartortle opened his mouth to fire another Ice Beam and sent it towards Dratini once again.

Dratini's charged up the biggest Dragon Rage that he could muster and shot it towards Wartortle.

The two moves met each other and started to battle for dominance. They seemed even as neither was moving.

"You can do it bud! I believe in you!" Ash encouraged.

"Win this Wartortle, show him who is stronger!" Gary shouted.

Slowly Wartortle's Ice Beam began to get pushed back.

Wartortle was starting to get worried that he would lose the power struggle so he poured every once of energy into the Ice Beam, however he decided to increase his power too late as the two attacks exploded right in front of Wartotle.

"WARTOTLE ARE YOU OKAY?!" Gary shouted in fear.

The dust from the explosion eventually cleared and both pokémon were still standing. They were both fading in and out of consciousness.

They both nodded to each other in respect before they both fell to the ground at the exact same time and fainted.

Ash and Gary both returned their pokémon into their pokéballs.

"You got lucky Ketchum. Next time I will crush you." Gary said as he turned back to the convertible and hopped in.

"Yea right Gary, next time I'll definitely win!" Ash said with a determined voice.

Gary rolled his eyes as the car burned rubber before speeding off into the distance.

* * *

Ash had returned to the pokémon center so he could heal his team. Merlin had to stay with Nurse Joy a bit longer to make sure all of the dark type was out of his system.

Nurse Joy let Ash know not to use Merlin or Dratini too much for the rest of the day because they need to heal. Rest would help them tremendously right now.

Ash of course understood and made a mental note to let them rest instead of training today.

Ash got his team back and decided to head up to to Bill's house.

Ash decided to wait to challenge to bridge another day since he would be restricted to use only Growlithe and Gaia.

He was sure that they would be able to beat everyone but he would rather have everyone battle so they could gain some experience.

Ash could see Bills house not to far off in the distance so he made the effort to get their a little quicker.

Ash got close to Bill's house when suddenly a pokémon teleported in front on them.

The pokémon was a purple feline that had smooth shiny fur all over its body. It had a long tail that split into two parts at the end. The felines ears were long and triangular and had a some hair coming out of them. The feline had a red jewel in the middle of its head that looked very shiny.

"Hey there, what are you doing here?" Ash spoke as he crouched down to pet the Espeon.

Espeon leaned into Ash's touch and then backed away. He pointed his tail at Bill's house made Stefan to walk.

Ash took it as a sign to follow the Espeon and began to walk behind it.

Ash and Espeon got to the front door when Espeon suddenly teleported away. Ash presumed she teleported inside of the house. Ash knocked on the door. He waited for a few seconds before he heard a soft response.

"Come in." The voice said.

Ash opened the door and walked in.

Ash was surprised when he saw the mess that wa inside. It looked as if a flying type had used Hurricane inside of the building. There were papers all over the place. Books were all over the counter and tables and were stacked fairly high.

"Umm hello?" Ash called out.

"I'm back here!" A man called.

Ash looked and noticed a man sitting at a desk reading a book. The desk was cluttered with various folders full of papers, books that were stacked very high, and and computer that was full of information.

The man got up, he was wearing a long white sleeve dress shirt with a purple sweater vest over it. The man had khaki pants and dress shoes. The man had a head full of curly hair.

"Hi! I'm Bill, what can I do for you?" The man now known as Bill introduced.

"Hey! I'm Ash, Professor Oak told me that you were here and that I should visit you."

"So you're the Ash that Samuel has told me about. If you don't mind let us go out back and you can show me your team." Bill said with a smile.

"Sure!" Ash said with a smile.

The two walked out back and there was a very large yard.

Ash felt something rub by his legs and he looked down to see the same Espeon walking up to Bill.

Bill reaches down and rubbed Espeon's head.

"This is my starter and my strongest Pokémon." Bill said with a smile.

Ash looked around the yard and found that there was about every eeveelution somewhere playing.

Bill noticed Ash's face and smiled.

"I've had all of them since they were puppies. I am a Pokémon researcher that specializes in the Eevee line." Bill said.

"That's amazing! Eevees are insanely rare!" Ash said as he looked around in awe.

"Yea I know, it seems like my dear Espeon has taken a liking to you." Bill said as Espeon walked back over to Ash and rubbed his head against Ash's leg.

"Anyways, would you mind showing me your team?" Bill Asked.

Ash smiled and released everyone from their pokéballs.

Bill was surprised with some of the pokémon on Ash's team.

Bill examined each member of Ash's team and when he finished he turned to Ash.

"You're Team is quite diverse, I think it's safe to say that you aren't a type specialist." Bill laughed.

"Aha, Yea I guess you could say that!" Ash laughed.

"Alright from what I've seen your team is quite balanced. I can tell that your Dratini isn't that close to evolution. Although he is quite large, Dratini's don't evolve until they reach about ten feet long, since yours is larger than average I think yours should evolve somewhere around twelve feet." Bill explained.

"I think you should focus on his speed for now, his muscles clearly tell me that he will hit hard but he may not be fast enough to hit his opponent. With your Kadabra for the most part he is fine. The only thing I would work on his him learning the move Miracle Eye. It allows him to hit Dark type Pokémon. Other than that your Kadabra is doing great." Bill said.

Ash nodded as he listened intently.

"Your Growlithe is obviously very large. That is a double edged sword. He will have a larger and hotter flame due to his large internal flame, but he will also be an easy target due to his size. My suggestion for him would be to learn some moves to help counter his weakness. I know that the Growlithe line is able to learn Wild Charge and Solar Beam. He is able to learn wild charge now but he won't be able to learn Solar Beam until he evolves. So I would wait on that." Bill said.

"Finally your Nidoran looks good. I would work on her defense for now. Working on her speed wouldn't be to beneficial considering Nidorina and Nidoqueen aren't exactly the fastest Pokémon out there. I also advise you to go to the pokémart and buy food specifically for poison types, they will help her toxicity levels which I turn would increase the chances of poisoning your opponents." Bill said.

Ash nodded as he absorbed all of this information. He would be sure to work on everything Bill told him.

"Thank you so much!" Ash told Bill as he bowed to the man.

"It's was my pleasure! It's nice to get away from all of the desk work every once in a while." Bill said with a smile.

* * *

Ash had made his way back to the pokémon center. He went to the cafeteria and fed his team dinner. He would hold off on training for the day since half of his team had battled hard today. He would incorporate what Bill told him into their training starting tomorrow morning.

The next morning Ash began to work in Bill's advice I to his training.

He had Dratini work on his speed. He has attached rocks on him and had him use Slither around the battlefield without using Agility to try and increase his base speed.

Ash had Growlithe finish working on Fire Fang. Tomorrow he would start him on Wild Charge.

Merlin continued to work on Hypnosis, he isn't bad at the move but he isn't exactly great at it either. All the Merlin could do is make someone drowsy, Ash knew first hand how much progress Merlin was making on the move.

Ash honestly had no clue on how to train on defense so instead he had Gaia work on her accuracy of her Poison Sting and how fast she could use Double Kick.

Ash decided that he would keep this regimen for a little while to see if the advice from Bill worked or not. He would take his team to challenge the gym in a couple of days.

He knew he would have to come up with a good strategy within the next few days, so while his team was training he would come up with different strategies that would work.

Ash was preparing to win his second gym badge of the Indigo Plateau.

* * *

 **Well that's the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! I wanted this chapter done by Friday but I had trouble with this chapter. I had to rewrite a couple parts of this chapter a couple of times so that delayed it.**

 **Thank you to everyone who leaves reviews, they motivate me to write and they let me know I'm doing something right!**

 **Thanks for reading guys! Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guy! I'm back with another update! Summer has been treating me good, hence why I've been able to write as much as I want. I actually wrote this one almost immediately after I finished the last chapter. I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **I don't own Pokémon or anything, I now present The Road Ahead.**

* * *

Ash woke up the next day with an excited feeling. There was something about challenging a gym that always seemed to get his blood pumping. Ash carefully climbed out of bed careful not to wake up anyone on his team. He wanted to treat them to a nice breakfast.

Ash crawled out of bed but he accidentally tripped on Growlithe who was sleeping at the foot of the bed.

Ash grimaced and turned to a very startled and sleepy Growlithe, "Sorry bud." Ash whispered to the groggy puppy.

As soon as he apologized to Growlithe a pair of ears shot up and a head followed soon after.

Gaia looked around and saw her trainer along with Growlithe. Gaia got up and shook her body to wake up. Ash saw this and sighed. So much for surprising his team with breakfast.

Ash turned to Merlin, "We both know you're not asleep." Ash said with a mix of irritation and humor.

'I rarely need sleep, As long as I meditate I will be fine.' Merlin said.

'Well since everyone but Dratini is up, I might as well wake him up too.' Ash thought to himself.

Ash walked back over to the bed and was about to gently shake Dratini but he suddenly had a better, more fun idea.

A grin crawled upon Ash's face as he turned to look at Growlithe.

"Growlithe use roar, everyone else cover your ears." Ash said while trying not to laugh.

All the Pokémon did their best to cover their ears. Growlithe took a deep breath and let out an ear piercing roar.

Dratini nearly jumped out of his scales and looked around fiercely ready to attack the threat that he thought was near.

Dratini's head turned as he realized he was in the room still. He turned to see Ash and the rest of the team laughing, even Merlin gave a slight chuckle.

Dratini narrowed his eyes in an attempt to cover up his embarrassment with intimidation but was failing as everyone was busy laughing.

A quick Iron Tail to everyone's head, except for Merlin as he just teleported out of the way, quickly stopped their laughing.

After the morning shenanigans Ash brushed his teeth and got a good breakfast for his team. As he was making his team breakfast he put consideration what flavors his team enjoys.

He knew that Dratini preferred his food to be a bit spicy with slight sweetness. Growlithe likes his food mushy and sweet. Gaia prefers her food to be bitter. Merlin doesn't have a preference for his food but Ash noticed Merlin enjoys it if he makes his food a bit sour. Ash made sure that each of their food was how they preferred.

After they all finished eating Ash and his team went out to the practice field behind the Pokémon center. They all lined up in front of Ash waiting for whatever their trainer said.

"Today is the day that we challenge the Cerulean gym. Merlin and Gaia, you two are who I'm using for this gym. Are you ready?" Ash asked.

Gaia and Merlin both gave a determined nod.

'We are ready young master.' Merlin replied.

Ash grinned.

Today he will win his second badge.

* * *

Ash went over the battle plan with his team, he wanted to make sure they were all on the same page.

After the battle briefing Ash returned everyone but Dratini.

Ash made the five minute walk to the Pokémon Gym and walked inside.

It looked fairly empty compared to yesterday when the bleachers were packed to the brim with people watching the three gorgeous sisters perform their water ballet.

Ash and Dratini looked around and noticed there was a door that read 'Challengers waiting room'. He walked in and there was a comfortable waiting area.

The walls were painted a soft blue. The ocean was also painted onto the walls, the oceans waves were crashing into each other. There were a few Pokémon painted onto the wall such as Gyrados, Dewgong, and Horsea.

There were ten chairs that were lined up against the walls. There was a coffee table that was in the center of the room that had a bowl of fruit.

Ash presumed the fruit were fake as they looked very shiny.

Ash looked to his left and saw there was a receptionist desk. There was a tablet on the desktop and a television on top of the receptionist desk that listed all of the upcoming challengers. He noticed there was a sign next to the tablet.

'Challengers please find an available time to sign up for Gym battle.' Ash read to himself.

Ash shrugged and looked at the available times. He saw that there weren't any challengers today.

The closest time that he would be able to battle would be in about twenty minutes.

Ash signed up and sat in one of the chairs. Ash sat and decided while he waited he would look to see where he would go next. The logical thing would be to go to Vermillion City since the next gym is there but he didn't want to go there just yet. From the rumors he heard Lt. Surge is ruthless and is incredibly hard to beat. From what he heard from other trainers in the Pokémon center only about ten trainers beat him in the past month. He also heard that Lt. Surge was giving out tickets to a luxury cruise to anyone who beat him in the next month.

While Ash was lost in thought when the television sounded out.

"Challenger Ash Ketchum please report to the battlefield." A robotic voice sounded.

A rush of adrenaline began to course through Ash's veins.

Ash walked out the waiting room and walked down the hall. Eventually he ran into a set of double doors that read "Battlefield".

Ash pushed through the doors and was introduced to a large pool area. There were six circular platforms that were about six feet wide.

He looks across and sees four beautiful women in swimsuits standing at the other side of the battlefield. Ash couldn't help but notice each of their figures.

They all had curves in all the right places and had toned muscles which showed that they were all quite fit.

"Welcome to the Cerulean Gym! We are the Sensational Sisters!" One of the women spoke.

Ash recognized three of the women from the performance yesterday. He didn't recognize the fourth girl with orange hair.

The blonde stepped up.

"I am Daisy, these are my sisters." The blonde now known as Daisy introduced.

"This is Violet," Daisy said as she gestured to the woman with violet colored hair.

"Hello!" Violet said cheerfully with a wave of her hand.

"This is Lily," Daisy said as she gestured to the pink haired woman.

"Hello! Nice to meet you!" Lily said with a smile and a playful wink.

"Finally this is our youngest sister Misty." Daisy said as she introduced the last sister.

"How are you?" Misty said with a pearly white smile.

Ash smiled, "I'm good, thank you!" Ash said with a smile.

"So who am I battling?" Ash asked.

"You will be battling Misty and I." Daisy said with a grin.

A determined grin crawled upon Ash's face as they took their sides. Dratini uncoiled from Ash and coiled next to Ash's feet. It wasn't as good of a view as being wrapped around Ash, but he knew his trainer needed to focus so he settled for being next to him.

Violet walked up to the referee stand.

"This will be a two-on-two battle for the Cascade badge. This battle is between the Gym leaders Daisy and Misty versus challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet town. The Challenger is able to return his pokémon while the gym leaders are not. Gym leader Misty is up first, gym leader Misty please send out your Pokémon first." Violet recited with obvious practice.

"Misty chooses Goldeen!" Misty shouted as she threw her pokéball. Her pokéball flew into the air and snapped open. The beam of light immediately dove straight into the water. After Goldeen materialized Ash got a good look at it.

Although Ash already knew the Pokémon from working with Professor Oak, a nice refresher wouldn't hurt.

Ash took out his pokédex and scanned Goldeen.

"Goldeen, the goldfish Pokémon, It swims at a steady 5 knots. If it senses danger, it will strike back with its sharp horn." The pokédex sounded off.

Ash smiled.

"Gaia I choose you!" Ash said as he threw a pokéball at one of the platforms.

Gaia appeared on the platform and gave as mighty of a roar as she could.

"A Nidoran huh? This will be fun!" Misty said with an excited smile on her face.

"The battle between Gaia and Goldeen will now begin. The challenger gets the first move!" Violet sounded off.

Ash nodded and began the battle.

"Gaia use Poison Sting!" Ash said.

"Dodge and head underwater!" Misty countered.

Gaia reared her head back and shot a flurry of poisonous needles at Goldeen, but Goldeen beat her to the punch and dove underwater.

The poison stings went about five feet into the water before they seemingly dissolved.

Goldeen swiftly began to dart around the arena in an attempt to confuse Gaia.

"Be on the lookout! She can be anywhere!" Ash warned.

As soon as he finished his sentence Misty took the offensive.

"Use Water Pulse!" Misty shouted.

Goldeen didn't emerge out of the water at first which caused Gaia to look around frantically trying to find out where the attack would come from.

"Calm down! Use your hearing to find out where she is going to come from!" Ash shouted.

Gaia nodded and closed her eyes. She lifted her ears up and listened to her surroundings.

After a could of seconds Gaia's eyes shot open and she jumped to the side as Goldeen came out of the water and shot a Water Pulse.

Although Gaia tried to dodge she still got clipped which cause a little bit of damage.

The Water Pulse threw Gaia off balance and caused her to stumble towards the end of the platform.

Misty decided to capitalize on the opportunity.

"Use Horn Attack while it's close to the edge!" Misty shouted.

Goldeen dove back under water and quickly made a u-turn and made a beeline towards Gaia.

Unfortunately Ash was ready.

"Double Kick!" Ash shouted.

Gaia recovered from the Water Pulse and turned towards where Goldeen was about to appear and charged the energy to use Double Kick.

She quickly jumped in the air as soon as Goldeen appears and nailed her with Double Kick which effectively dazed her and knocked her back into the water.

"Quick use Poison Sting!" Ash shouted.

Gaia quickly charged Poison Sting and launched it at Goldeen.

A good portion of Poison Sting hit Goldeen but she managed to get away before the rest of them could hit her.

Goldeen swam back up to the surface in front of Misty and awaited her trainers command.

Ash looked at Goldeen and grit his teeth.

"Dammit" He said under his breath.

Dratini looked up at Ash in confusion but looked back towards the battle.

"Water Gun and head back underwater!" Misty shouted.

Goldeen puffed her cheeks and shot a strong Water Gun at Gaia then dove back underwater.

Gaia jumped to the side and dodge the water gun.

Ash grit his teeth. He quickly found the same cycle happening over and over again. Gaia would attack and Goldeen would dodge. Goldeen would Attack and Gaia would dodge. Then Goldeen goes underwater. He needs to find a way to get Goldeen out of the water.

"Use Water Pulse!" Misty shouted. Instead of diving into the water and hiding for a while Goldeen charged up a water Pulse and shot it towards Gaia.

Gaia attempted to dodge but Goldeen anticipated Gaia jumping to the side and adjusted her aim.

The Water Pulse hit Gaia directly.

The water pulse did a good amount of damage. It caused Gaia to fall towards the edge of the platform and was only hanging on by a very small amount.

"Use Supersonic!" Misty shouted.

Goldeen rushed towards the platform and began to scream. There were sonic rings that were launched from her mouth that were heading towards Gaia.

"GAIA YOU HAVE TO MOVE!" Ash screamed in worry.

Dratini gave a roar to his teammate warning her.

Unfortunately Gaia couldn't react in time and was hit by Supersonic.

A very confused look was in Gaia's face as she began to suffer from a severe vertigo.

She started to stumble. She tried to walk forward but instead she took a single step backwards. Unfortunately there wasn't a platform where she stepped which caused her to fall into the water.

Ash whitened.

"Quick use Horn Attack back to back!" Misty shouted.

Goldeen shot like a torpedo and hit Gaia with a Horn Attack.

She turned to hit her again but there suddenly wasn't a target to hit.

Ash gave a sigh of relief.

"Take a good rest, I might need you later." Ash said.

Ash felt Gaia's pokéball shake slightly before it went still.

"Challenger Ash has returned his pokémon, said pokémon is still available to battle. Please send out your final Pokémon." Violet recited.

Ash looked toward the battlefield and grabbed Merlin's pokéball.

"Merlin I choose you!" Ash shouted as he tossed Merlin's pokéball toward a platform.

Merlin appeared silently on a platform but the laser focus in his eyes showed that Merlin was focused and ready.

"The battle between Merlin and Goldeen will now begin!" Violet signaled.

"Use confusion!" Ash shouted quickly.

Merlin acted quickly and his spoons quickly glowed a cyan color and grabbed ahold of Golden.

Misty began to panic.

"Goldeen use Water Pulse!" Misty shouted in worry.

"Slam her" Ash said.

Merlin simply flicked his spoons down and Goldeen followed.

Goldeen was sent crashing to the platform.

"Again." Ash said calmly.

However Ash didn't notice that Goldeen was charging a Water Pulse while she was getting slammed.

As Merlin was getting ready to slam her again Goldeen launched Water Pulse.

Merlin being caught off guard was hit in the middle of his chest.

This caught Merlin by surprise which caused him to lose concentration and drop Goldeen in the water.

"Use Supersonic!" Misty shouted hoping to capitalize on Merlin being caught off guard.

Unfortunately for Misty, Merlin was quick to recover and teleported away to a different platform leaving Goldeen looking confused as to where Merlin went.

Daisy saw Merlin teleport away and grinned. She knew exactly how to handle a Pokémon teleporting.

"Finish this!" Ash called.

Goldeen looked frantically for Merlin, just as she turned around all she saw was a multicolored beam heading towards her. Goldeen knee it was no use in trying to dodge it as it was already almost here. She closed her eyes and accepted her fate.

Merlin's Psybeam landed and sent Holdeen flying towards the wall. She slid down and it was obvious that Goldeen was knocked out.

"Goldeen is unable to battle, the winner of this round goes to Merlin! Gym Leader Misty please recall Goldeen and step down from the platform. Gym leader Daisy is up next!" Violet called.

Misty recalled Goldeen and gave it a word of thanks. She turned and made her way to the sidelines. She gave Daisy a high-five as Daisy walked towards her part of the field.

"Round two of this gym challenge will now begin. Gym leader Daisy please send out the final Pokémon!" Violet called.

"It's showtime!" Daisy called as she sent out her Pokémon.

The pokémon materialized in the water first before swimming up and landing on the platform.

The pokémon was purple all over. It was shaped in a star and had another point in between each point. It had a red colored jewel in the middle of its body with gold surrounding the jewel keeping it in place.

Ash pulled out his pokédex once again.

"Starmie, the mysterious pokémon, Its central core glows with the seven colors of the rainbow. Some people value the core as a gem." The pokédex sounded.

"The battle between Merlin versus Starmie will now begin!" Violet called.

"Let's go underwater!" Daisy said.

Starmie dove into the water and disappeared.

Ash groaned, he had to deal with this again.

"Use your telekinesis to sense it!" Ash called.

Merlin closed his eyes and he began to float. His entire body began to glow as he extended part of his psyche throughout the battlefield searching for Starmie.

Merlin's glowing eyes snapped open and looked to his side. His spoons glowed as Starmie was lifted out of the water.

Daisy was prepared.

"Signal Beam!" Daisy calmly called as soon as Starmie was lifted out of the water.

Starmie's jewel began to shine a rainbow color before a beam shot toward Merlin once again catching Ash and Merlin off guard.

Merlin dropped Starmie so he could get away from the incoming attack.

Daisy smirked.

"Again!" Daisy said as soon as Merlin teleported.

Merlin reappeared on a new platform across the battlefield but he was met with a Signal Beam that hit him directly in the middle of his chest.

Merlin was thrown back and landed on his back on an entire new platform. Merlin screamed in pain. The super effective move did a major amount of damage.

"Merlin are you okay!?" Ash shouted in worry.

Merlin struggled to his feet clearly feeling exhausted.

'I will be alright but that move didn't feel particularly good' Merlin said weakly. It was clear that move did significant damage to him.

Ash was at a loss for words. How in the world did Starmie know where Merlin was going to appear. He knew that there was still a flash where Merlin was going to appear but there is no way that Starmie should be able to predict where Merlin is about to appear that accurately.

Daisy must of read his mind because she answered exactly what Ash was wondering.

"Starmie knew where Merlin was going to appear because when a Pokémon teleports they leave a small distortion in reality whenever they teleport. It's the same for where they are about to appear, so with Starmie being part psychic type he can sense where the distortion in reality is occurring and adjust accordingly." Daisy explained.

Ash grimaced, that just made this battle a lot harder. Teleporting is a major part of Merlin's battling arsenal. If Starmie knew where Merlin was going to appear then beating Starmie will be a lot harder than he thought.

Unfortunately for Ash the battle continued while he was trying to think of a way to get around this wall.

Starmie came rushing in with Rapid Spin and it almost hit Merlin but Ash was quick to counter.

"Merlin use Confusion followed by Psybeam!" Ash countered.

Merlin's eyes and spoons glowed as Starmie was caught in psychic energy. Starmie began to struggle and was going to use Signal Beam again but was best to the punch as Merlin sent a Psybeam directly at Starmie.

Psybeam knocked Starmie back and into the water again.

"Rapid Spin!" Daisy called out with excitement, she was finally getting into the battle.

Starmie soared out of the water at a very fast pace which forced Merlin to teleport out of the way. Which is exactly what Daisy wanted.

Starmie stopped when he got close to where Merlin was previously and shot a Signal Beam to it's left.

As Starmie predicted Merlin appeared to his left.

Merlin saw the teleport coming and tried to teleport away again but was clipped on his shoulder which threw Merlin off.

"Let's finish this Starmie, use Rapid Spin!" Daisy called out.

Starmie grunted and began to spin furiously towards Merlin.

"Use Psybeam!" Ash called out in panic.

Merlin recovered from the Signal Beam and sent a Psybeam at Starmie which caused Starmie to get pushed back slightly. It was enough for Merlin to get away by floating over to a different platform quickly.

Merlin was visibly sagging, it was clear to Ash and Daisy that Merlin was on his last legs.

'I need to come up with a plan quick. I need to find a way to counter Signal Beam and how to teleport safely.' Ash thought to himself.

"Use Water Pulse!" Daisy shouted.

Starmie charged an orb of water and sent hurtling towards Merlin.

Merlin used confusion to catch the Water Pulse but what he didn't know was that Starmie sent back to back Water Pulses in anticipation that Merlin would do that.

Luckily Merlin sent the first Water Pulse towards the second one which caused the moves to cancel each other out.

However the two Water Pulses caused all of the platforms to become soaked and slippery.

A very annoyed look crawled onto Ash and Merlin's face as Starmie once again dove into the water.

He wished he had a way to prevent them from hiding in the water.

Merlin once again began to use his telekinesis to find Starmie.

Ash decided to try something, he knew the move wasn't fully mastered but it was worth a try. All he has to do is put it into action and hope that it works.

"Use Confusion when you find him and turn him towards the roof!" Ash called.

Merlin found Starmie and grabbed him. When Merlin brought Starmie out of the water he turned Starmie towards the roof so he couldn't use a move.

Merlin shot a Psybeam at Starmie for good measure. The Psybeam hit Starmie and sent him to a new platform doing a decent amount of damage.

While Starmie was disoriented Ash seized his opportunity.

"Hypnosis!" Ash shouted.

Daisy's eyes widened, "Use Rapid Spin to get away!" Daisy shouted.

Merlin teleported in front of Starmie and his eyes began to glow a pink color. Hypnotic waves oozed from Merlin and found their way towards Starmie.

Starmie began to slouch over. It began to walk backwards very slowly and clumsily. Hypnosis had Starmie very drowsy and disoriented.

Starmie wobbled around the platform before tripping and falling back into the water.

Daisy saw Starmie was tired. She knew that Starmie could take maybe one more Psybeam before it would be out for the count. When Starmie fell into the water Daisy saw the opportunity she seized it.

"Use Recover!" Daisy shouted.

The splash of the cold water from the pool woke Starmie up. Starmie heard its trainers order and sunk further into the water.

Ash started to panic, if Starmie got the chance to recover it could be big trouble for them.

"Use Psybeam! Stop them!" Ash called.

Merlin shot the Psybeam but it missed.

Suddenly the glowing stopped.

Ash whitned.

Starmie came flying out of the water looking a lot better than he did previously.

'Shit..' Ash thought to himself.

Daisy smirked, she knew this battle was just about over.

"Use Water Pulse followed by Rapid Spin to end this battle!" Daisy called.

Starmie charged another Water Pulse and shot it towards Merlin. Immediately after Starmie shot off the Water Pulse it charged in after it.

Merlin used Confusion to catch the Water Pulse and sent it back towards Starmie but unfortunately Starmie ducked under it and continued making its way towards Merlin.

Merlin saw this and tried to teleport away.

Starmie stopped his Rapid Spin and shot off a Signal Beam to his right.

As soon as Merlin appeared he was struck in the middle of his chest with a signal beam that sent him crashing into the wall.

Merlin slid down to the ground with swirls in his eyes. He was out cold.

"Merlin is unable to battle, the victory goes to Starmie! Challenger Ash please return your pokéball and send out your final pokémon." Violet called.

Ash and Dratini were both shocked, this battle hasn't been going like they planned whatsoever. All he had left was Gaia and she was already on her last legs. Not to mention that Starmie has Recover which allowed it to get rid of any damage that he gets.

Ash had a decision to make. He could either throw an exhausted Gaia into battle with a Pokémon who is not only almost fresh but also has a type AND field advantage and hope for the best, or he could end it here and go back to the drawing board.

"Challenger Ash please send out your next Pokémon." Violet repeated.

"...I forfeit." Ash said solemnly.

Dratini looked at Ash, he saw Ash visibly shaken. Dratini coiled around Ash and grabbed his hand with his tail for comfort.

Daisy smiled. It wasn't a malicious smile but a smile of approval. She walked over to Ash and Dratini.

"That was a great battle! You're pokémon are really well trained! It's clear that you care for your pokémon and I think I speak for all of my sisters when I say that we really respect that." Daisy said with a smile.

Ash felt like crap but it was awfully nice of Daisy to try and console him like this

"It's clear that you don't have much experience battling water types considering how much trouble you had when our pokémon went underwater." Daisy said.

Ash just nodded. He wasn't really in the mood for talking right now as this was his first loss.

"My suggestion would be widen your teams move pool. That way you would be able to cover weaknesses easier and be able to surprise your opponents." Daisy advised.

Daisy held her hand out for Ash to shake.

Ash looked at Daisy's hand and hesitantly shook it.

"Feel free to come back and challenge us or if you need anything while you're here just come by! We will be happy to help you!" Daisy said with a smile.

Ash gave a smile, "Thank you, I might take you up on that offer." Ash said with a sad smile.

Ash turned and left the Gym.

* * *

Ash had went back to the pokémon center and had Gaia and Merlin healed.

After they were back in his possession he went out back to the practice field.

He released his team in front of them and the mood was instantly depressing.

Growlithe looked around and was expecting his teammates to be happy and cheerful but he was curious as to why nobody was saying anything.

Growlithe nudged Dratini with his head as if he was asking what's wrong.

Dratini looked at Growlithe and shook his head while looking at the ground.

Merlin and Gaia couldn't look their teammates or Ash in the eye.

"I'm sorry.." Ash said while staring at the ground feeling too ashamed to look at his team.

To say his team was surprised by this was an understatement.

His team all looked at their trainer as if his head had fallen off.

"You guys have been working so hard and doing your best but because I panicked during the match I couldn't think of any good counters. I'm so sorry guys.." Ash said with a dejected voice.

Dratini was the first to respond. Dratini rose up to eye level with Ash and stared him in the eye. Ash finally looked up and saw Dratini giving him death glares. Ash jumped back in surprise, Dratini rarely gets seriously pissed off but the look that he was giving Ash let Ash know that he was thoroughly pissed off.

Dratini gave a series of roars and growls doing his best to let Ash know that he thought ahh is the best trainer that they have and that the blame isn't entirely on him. They could've put more effort into training and preparing for the fight.

Ash stood there in silence while Dratini tore him a new one.

After Dratini was done he huffed and turned his head to the side.

Merlin spoke up.

'Young master, I think what Leader is trying to say is that the blame goes on all of us. Both Gentle One and I offer our sincere apologies for failing to do better in the battle.' Merlin apologized.

Growlithe walked up to Ash and rubbed his head on Ash's side as he whined. He wanted Ash to know he would try harder as well.

Ash looked at his team and his eyes began to water. He couldn't ask for a better team- no they meant more to him. They are his family.

"Thank you guys, I promise to do better! Now that we got our first loss out of the way we can only improve from here. If they think that we won't come back and crush them then they're out of their minds!" Ash said with a fire in his eyes.

* * *

Ash and his team had taken to training like they were madmen.

The night Ash lost the gym battle he stayed up and looked at his notes to see what his team needs to work on. He wanted to keep what Bill suggested in the training plan but he also knew his team needs more diverse moves. He went through all of their move pools that they could learn right now and choose the best moves that would give them the surprise factor that Daisy suggested.

Ash decided that over the next couple of days he would work with each member of his team individually to ensure that training goes right.

On the first day he pulled Growlithe to the side and told him to follow him. He went into the Pokémon center and found the charging station that the league implemented for electric types to charge themselves.

"Alright buddy it's time to start learning Wild Charge." Ash said with a smile.

Growlithe yipped happily showing his excitement.

Ash ducked slightly and looked around, there were a few trainers in the lobby looking at Ash and Growlithe which caused Ash to sweat drop.

"We should try and keep it down while we are in here bud." Ash said sheepishly.

Growlithe yipped happily again causing everyone to look at Ash again.

Ash laughed and rubbed Growlithe's head, he'd have to work on Growlithe's inside voice.

"Anyways, here's what I want you to do, you see that mouth price right there?" Ash asked as he pointed to a mouth price that was connected to a decently large sized machine. Growlithe looked and nodded.

The machine was designed so that Pokémon can charge themselves up while resting comfortably. It had different attachments that allowed all different types of Pokémon to use it such as a mouthpiece, outlets, wires for example. The machine had a touch screen monitor that allows a trainer to enter in information about said pokémon before they started to absorb electricity. The trainer had to enter species, weight, and experience with electricity. The league made sure there was an emphasis on how experienced the Pokémon was with electricity. It would be a disaster if a baby Pokémon like Elekid got the same amount of electricity a fully grown Luxray. It would overload the Pokémon and have dire effects on the Pokémon.

The point of having Growlithe use this charging station is so he can learn to harness electrical energy. One he learned how to do that then using other electrical moves will become easier.

Ash entered Growlithe's data and experience with electricity and pressed the start button on the machine. Ash then had Growlithe step toward the machine. Growlithe was very hesitant to use the machine at first but Ash made sure to stay by his side and pet him to make sure that he was comfortable and didn't experience any pain. Growlithe slowly stepped towards the machine and looked at the mouth price and looked back at Ash with puppy dog eyes.

A small piece of Ash's heart broke but Ash knew Growlithe would have to do this eventually.

"It's okay buddy I'm right here." Ash said softly while running his hand down Growlithe back.

Growlithe nodded at Ash and hesitantly bit down on the mouthpiece. Growlithe felt a small jolt that initially shocked him but he held tough thanks to Ash being by his side.

Growlithe quickly adjusted to the electricity flowing into him and laid down next to Ash.

Ash let him and offered Growlithe words of praise for sitting through this. He promised he would get. fireproof brush later and give him a good brushing session.

After about ten minutes the machine turned off signaling the end of the session.

"All done bud now let's go outside and test out how well you can use electric type moves!" Ash said excitedly as he made his way to the training field.

Growlithe once again barked happily and followed Ash outside.

Ash and Growlithe walked to the training field outside the center and faced each other.

"Alright buddy, I want you to focus on the electric energy you feel in your body and try to use it to try and coat the outside of your body." Ash explained.

Growlithe nodded and closed his eyes. Growlithe put on a determined face and began to search for the electric energy that was residing inside of his body.

Once Growlithe found it he gradually spread it throughout his body and allowed it to come to the surface.

Growlithe concentrated and allowed the electricity to escape his body.

Ash watched and suddenly there was a very thin layer of electricity cover parts of Growlithe's body.

Ash's eyes went wide and a massive smile was plastered to his face. Ash went to tackle Growlithe in a hug but he was so caught up in his excitement that he forgot that Growlithe was still partly covered in electricity. Ash's hastiness got him electrocuted.

Ash fell over and twitched for a second. Growlithe looked at Ash in worry before he licked Ash's face.

Ash sat up and started to laugh.

"Congrats Growlithe! All we have to do is increase how much electricity you can store inside of you and work on covering your entire body instead of just parts!" Ash said excitedly.

Growlithe barked happily and licked Ash face once again causing Ash to laugh.

* * *

Ash was outside with Gaia on the practice field trying to work on Poison Sting.

"Would it be possible to try and pack more poison inside of the needle or does it not work that way?" Ash asked.

Gaia hunched her shoulders. It was worth a shot.

Gaia reared her head back and held it for a minute before shooting off an extremely distorted needle that burst as soon as it hit the ground.

"Well the needles clearly weren't what they need to be." Ash said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Would it be possible to make the needles bigger?" Ash curiously asked.

Gaia thought about it for a second before reading her head back and eventually shot out larger needles but there were significantly less needles compared to normal.

Ash had an idea.

"If we used bigger needles can you lack more poison into them?" Ash asked with a slight hint of curiosity.

Gaia reared her head back and shot out the bigger needles but this time they were a purple color instead of white.

A large smile crawled onto Ash's face.

"We are definitely going to use that! We need a name for that.." Ash trailer off as he began to think of a name.

"How about Big Sting?" Ash asked.

Gaia pondered on it for a second and shrugged, it wasn't horrible so it would do.

"Alright let's test your accuracy and lower with Big Sting." Ash said as he looked around. He saw a tree a good amount of distance away from the training field and pointed to it.

"Use Big Sting on that tree!" Ash said.

Gaia shot Big Sting at the tree and the majority hit the tree but only about one or two missed.

Ash walked up to the tree and his eyes widened. The poison needles were fairly deep inside of the tree. The needles looked very sharp, he was scared that if he poked the edge of the needle then he might get poisoned on accident. Ash also noticed that a fair amount of the poison that was inside of the needle was emptied into the tree which caused the tree to smoke slightly.

Ash grinned, this would be a good move if he wanted to poison a Pokémon. This move only spelled opportunity.

* * *

Ash had a plan for Dratini. The next move that Dratini was going to learn was Aqua Jet. It was time to expand Dratini's move pool so he could cover a wider range of Pokémon.

The only problem was that Ash had no clue on how to teach water type moves which explained where they were going.

Ash found himself outside of the Cerulean Gym.

Ash took a deep breath and walked inside. He made his way to the battlefield and opened the double doors.

As soon as Ash opened the door he was greeted with a monstrous roar.

Dratini sprung into action and immediately got in front of Ash to protect him.

"Woah there Gyrados!" Violet said while laughing.

Ash was astounded, that Gyrados was easily the biggest Gyrados he has ever seen, although he knows Lance's Gyrados is much larger.

Ash looked around the battlefield and saw all four girls training some of their water type Pokémon.

Besides Gyrados there was a powerful Blastoise, a sleek Dewgong, a sinister looking Cloyster, a large Slowking, a muscular Vaporeon, and a number Of other powerful water types. What caught Ash's eye was a Starmie that looked bigger than the one he battled the other day.

"Um hello?" Ash said.

All four girls looked towards the voice and smiled when they saw who it was.

"Hey Ash!" Misty greeted.

"Hey ladies!" As greeted back.

"What brings you here?" Lily asked.

"Actually I need your help." Ash said.

All four girls suddenly had a semi-serious look on their face.

"What's going on?" Daisy stepped up and asked.

"You see I'm trying to teach Dratini Aqua Jet but the truth is that I have no clue how." Ash said with a hand behind his head.

"Oh! That's no problem!" Misty said with a smile.

"Just leave him here for the day and by the time you get him back tomorrow then he will have the basics down!" Daisy said with a smile.

Ash nodded and looked at Dratini.

"Alright buddy, I need you to stay here. They are going to teach you how to use Aqua Jet." Ash said.

Dratini nodded and slithered over to Daisy and looked at her.

She crouched down and rubbed the top of Dratini's head.

"Hey there, by the time that we are done we will have you speeding around the battlefield!" Daisy said with a smile.

Dratini nodded his head, there was a determined fire in his eyes. He would learn this move as fast as possible so he could go back with Ash.

"Just come by sometime tomorrow afternoon and he should have it down." Daisy said.

Ash nodded.

"Thank you guys! Train hard buddy!" Ash said as he left the gym.

* * *

After Ash left the gym he went back to the pokémon center. It was time for Merlin to master Hypnosis.

So far Merlin has been meditating to increase his mental fortitude which makes it easier to charge his attacks.

"Alright Merlin, let's see how Hypnosis is coming." Ash said as he laid in bed.

There wasn't a need to use the practice field to teach Merlin Hypnosis considering it wasn't a destructive move.

'Of course Young Master.' Merlin said as his eyes glowed a pink color and hypnotic waves started to leave his head and come towards Ash.

When they hit Ash instantly felt extremely tired and drowsy.

When a Pokémon uses Hypnosis the Pokémon getting Hypnosis used on is supposedly to fall asleep almost instantly.

While Ash was close to falling asleep he wasn't asleep.

Merlin grabbed the glass of water on the side of Ash's bed and splashed it on Ash effectively waking him up.

"Thanks.." Ash said as he walked to the bathroom to get a towel to dry off with.

"Hey Merlin, I know that Hypnosis is supposed to put someone to sleep but would it be possible to alter the way someone thinks with it?" Ash asked.

'It is possible but I do not have enough experience to pull off such a feat.' Merlin answered.

"Hmm, what can you do with Hypnosis so far?" Ash asked.

'As you can see Young Master I can almost completely force my opponent to fall into a deep sleep.' Merlin answered.

Ash thought about it for a second.

"What if you do multiple Hypnosis on someone?" Ash asked as he filled up his glass of water to make sure he would be able to wake up.

'Let me try it.' Merlin said as his eyes turned pink again.

Hypnotic waves hit Ash and he fell immediately into bed in almost asleep. Merlin sent even more Hypnotic waves that effectively knocked Ash out. Merlin used his telekinesis to grab the glass of water that Ash had just refilled glass and splashed Ash with it. To Merlin's surprise Ash didn't wake up.

Merlin lifted Ash's pillow from underneath him and hit him with it. Still nothing.

Merlin used telekinesis to grab Growlithe's pokéball. He put it in Ash's hand and forced Ash to release Growlithe.

Growlithe appeared and faced Ash. Growlithe's head tilted to the side in confusion. Helpless at Merlin for an explanation.

'I am currently practicing Hypnosis and Young Master made a suggestion that I use Hypnosis twice. This is the result.' Merlin explained.

Growlithe looked at Ash and jumped on him and started to lick his face in an attempt to wake him up.

Nothing.

Merlin sighed and lifted Growlithe off of Ash with his telekinesis and set him back on the floor.

'I was going to ask you to use Roar to see if it wakes him up.' Merlin said while shaking his head.

'Fire Mutt has entirely too much energy' Merlin said to himself.

Growlithe took a deep breath and let out a mighty Roar.

Ash jumped out of bed covering his ears.

Ash looked at Growlithe in confusion.

"How did you get out of your ball?" Ash questioned.

'I released him, I figured if Fire Mutt roared loud enough then it would wake you up.' Merlin explained.

"Fire Mutt?" Ash questioned again.

"That is my name for Fire Mutt. I enjoy coming up with names for everyone.' Merlin explained.

Ash shrugged his shoulders in acceptance.

"Well it's safe to say that Hypnosis works if you use it twice." Ash said with a smile.

'Indeed it does.'

* * *

It's the next day and Ash was outside the Cerulean gym getting ready to pick up Dratini.

He walked inside and made his way to the battlefield. Ash walked through the double doors and saw Misty defusing a fight between Gyrados and Dratini.

"Dratini will you please calm down! I'm sure Gyrados didn't mean it!" Misty pleaded.

Gyrados gave a grin at Dratini and looked away, it was obvious that whatever Gyrados did he meant it.

"What's going on?" Ash said as he walked in and saw the situation.

Dratini's head instantly turned in Ash's direction at the sound of Ash's voice. Dratini slipped into Agility and coiled around Ash.

"Woah! Hey there buddy! Did you figure Aqua Jet out?" Ash asked.

Dratini nodded.

Dratini uncoiled from Ash and got on the floor. He closed his eyes to focus for a second before water surrounded him and he sped around for a little bit before the water cutoff and Dratini was sent flying and landed in the pool.

"Dratini learned it fairly fast, his only problem is he hasn't completely figured out how to stop." Violet said as she came out of the water in a two piece bikini.

Ash saw Violet and blushed slightly. His hormones wouldn't let him not acknowledge Violets beauty.

Ash took his mind off of Violet by looking at Dratini swimming back to Ash. Dratini came out of the pool and shook himself to get the water off of him.

"Is Ash here?" Daisy asked as she walked around a corner with Lily. They both had towels wrapped around their hair and two piece bikinis on as well. They clearly just got out of the pool.

"H-Hey guys!" Ash said with a blush. Ash cursed himself in his head for stuttering.

"Dratini learned how the basics pretty quick. I initially thought it would take longer but he surprised me!" Lily said.

"Lily was the one who did almost all of the teaching." Misty spoke up.

"Thank you guys so much!" Ash thanked.

"It's no problem, it was our pleasure!" Violet said with a genuine smile.

"I'll be back soon to rechallenge the gym soon!" Ash said with a determined grin.

"We will be waiting then! Don't expect us to go easy on you either!" Misty said with an equally determined grin.

"I wouldn't have it any other way!" Ash said as he and Dratini left the gym.

* * *

It is two days after Ash picked Dratini up from the gym. Ash went over everyone's moves to make sure they were up to par for the gym battle. The night before he rechallenged the gym, Ash went over the last gym battle in his head and noticed things that he could've done differently. While he was reflecting the battle an idea suddenly came to him. He knew exactly how to handle this gym.

Ash and Dratini were currently waiting in the gyms waiting room for their turn to battle. There was currently a gym battle taking place, he was up next.

"We are going to get them this time!" Ash said with a smile.

Dratini nodded and smiled back.

The two waited patiently for another five minutes before their name was called on the television.

Once again adrenaline begin to rush through Ash's veins as he got up and made his way to the battlefield.

He pushed through the double doors and stepped to the battlefield.

"Hello Ash!" All four girls greeted.

"Hey ladies!" Ash said with a smile.

"Hey Dratini!" Lily called out from the other side of the battlefield.

Dratini trilled out a greeting to Lily.

"Well now that the greetings are over how about we get to this gym battle!" Violet said.

"Alright!" Ash said.

"Like last time you will be battling Misty and Daisy." Violet said.

"Sounds good to me!" Ash said as he and the girls made their way to their side of the field.

Violet walked up to the referee stand took the role of the referee again.

"This will be a two-on-two battle for the Cascade badge. This battle is between the Gym leaders Daisy and Misty versus challenger Ash Ketchum from Pallet town. The Challenger is able to return his pokémon while the gym leaders are not. Gym leader Misty is up first, gym leader Misty please send out your Pokémon first." Violet recited.

"Misty chooses Goldeen!" Misty shouted as she released Goldeen into the water.

Ash smiled, it's time to start his plan.

"Gaia, I choose you!" Ash shouted as he released Gaia onto the platform. When she was released she gave Growl and got into battle position.

"Gaia again huh? You do remember how the battle went last time don't you?" Misty said with a smirk.

"I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you." Ash said with a challenging smile.

"The battle between Gaia and Goldeen will now begin, Challenger Ash will get the first move!" Violet called.

"Poison Sting!" Ash called out.

"Goldeen underwater lets go!" Misty said.

Gaia reared her head back and shot a flurry of poisonous needles towards Goldeen. However, Golden was quick to dive far underwater before any of the needles got the chance to hit her.

"Keep going Gaia!" Ash shouted as Gaia continued to shoot Poison Sting into the water.

'What is he planning? Doesn't he know that she will never hit Goldeen as long as she is underwater?' Misty questioned to herself.

After about a minute Ash stepped in.

"Alright Gaia that should be good for now, let's look for her now! Use your ears like last time!" Ash shouted.

Gaia closer her eyes and lifted her ears so she could listen to her surroundings.

"Use Water Pulse!" Misty shouted.

Goldeen swam around the water for a while to confuse Gaia and surprise her but it was no use as Gaia's ears were too good.

Gaia's ears locked up where Goldeen was swimming and when she poked her head out of the water Gaia was ready.

"Big Sting!" Ash called out.

Ash's command threw Misty off guard.

Goldeen formed an orb of water in front of her mouth and shot it towards Gaia.

Gaia reared her head back and shot Big Sting towards the Water Pulse which cancels out the move. However, Gaia didn't stop there she continued the shoot Big Sting at Goldeen.

Since Ash's command threw Misty off guard she forgot to tell Goldeen to dodge which allowed Big Sting to find its target.

Goldeen was thrown back and flew back into the water.

"Oh no! Goldeen are you alright!?" Misty shouted to worry.

After a few seconds Goldeen came back to the surface. Ash took a look at Goldeen and smirked.

Goldeen had a purple tint on her face which only meant one thing. She was poisoned. Goldeen was now on a time limit.

Misty noticed the purple tint as well and grimaced. She had to move quick.

"Alright Gaia use Poison Sting again!" Ash called out.

Gaia got to work as she fired another flurry of Poison Sting at Goldeen who dove under water to dodge the move.

"Goldeen use Horn Attack!" Misty shouted hoping to take the offensive again.

"You know what to do!" Ash called.

Instead of swimming around to confuse Gaia she bolted out of the water and charged at Gaia with her large horn.

"Double Kick!" Ash shouted at the last second.

Unfortunately Goldeen landed Horn Attack which stabbed Gaia in the side and caused her to begin to bleed.

However, Gaia powered through her wound and used Double Kick to send Goldeen flying back into the water.

Gaia held her side in pain and grimaced.

"Gaia are you okay?" Ash shouted in worry.

Gaia grimaced in pain but nodded her head, she refused to be taken down just because she got one little wound. If she wanted to help Ash become a master then she will have to be able to take a whole lot more than this little wound.

'I need to hurry and end this battle! Goldeen can't take much more damage and she is already poisoned.' Misty thought to herself.

"Goldeen use Supersonic!" Misty called out.

"Gaia switch platforms!" Ash called.

Goldeens head emerged from the water and she opened her mouth and let out Supersonic waves that were heading towards Gaia.

Gaia ran and jumped to another platform.

"Quick while she is in the air use Water Gun!" Misty called.

Goldeen stopped the Supersonic and shot off a strong looking Water Gun at Gaia.

Since Gaia was in the air she couldn't dodge so she was hit and was sent flying. Fortunately Gaia landed on a different platform. Although it wasn't the platform that she intended, it was still a platform and not the pool.

"Gaia are you alright!?" Ash shouted in worry again.

"While she is down use Horn Attack to finish her off!" Misty shouted with a smile. She was going to end this battle now!

Unfortunately Lady luck had other plans.

Just as Golden jumped out of the water and was about to hit Gaia with her horn again she stopped and started to writhe in pain due to the poison overtaking her system. Unfortunately Goldeen didn't fall back into the water. She landed on the platform.

Ash saw his opportunity and took it.

"Alright Gaia use Double Kick followed by Big Sting to finish this battle!" Ash called out with a grin.

Gaia recovered from getting hit with Water Gun and ran over to the grounded Goldeen and hit her with two vicious kicks efficiently sending her crashing into the water.

Gaia followed that up by firing the larger poisonous needles at Goldeen. All of the needles found their target.

The poison took hold of Goldeen once again which proved to be too much for Goldeen.

Goldeen floated up to the surface with swirls in her eyes.

"Goldeen is unable to battle, the winner of this round goes to Gaia! Gym Leader Misty please recall Goldeen and step down from the platform. Gym leader Daisy is up next!" Violet called.

Misty stepped down from her platform and started to make her way to the sidelines. She gave Daisy a high five as she passed her.

Daisy stepped onto the platform and grabbed her pokéball.

"Great Job Gaia, leave the rest to Merlin and I!" Ash said as he returned Gaia.

"Your hard work won't go to waste." Ash whispered to Gaia's pokéball.

Gaia's pokeballs shook for a second before it went still.

"Challenger Ash has recalled his pokémon, please send out your next Pokémon." Violet officiated.

"Merlin, I choose you!" Ash shouted as he released Merlin onto one of the platforms.

Merlin appeared with narrowed eyes, he was ready this time.

"Round two of this gym challenge will now begin. Gym leader Daisy please send out the final Pokémon!" Violet called.

"It's showtime!" Daisy shouted as she released Starmie into the water.

Starmie swam around the water before coming up to the surface and landing on one of the platforms. Ash took a close look at Starmie and smiled. There was a slight purple tint in its jewel.

"The battle between Merlin and Starmie will now begin!" Violet called.

"Start this off with Psybeam!" Ash called out.

"Go underwater!" Daisy shouted.

Merlin crossed his spoons and shot a Psybeam at Starmie but it missed as Starmie dove underwater.

"Use telekinesis to sense it!" Ash countered.

"Use Swift!" Daisy called.

Starmie emerged from the water and shot of a flurry of stars that were locked in to Merlin's position.

"Use confusion to grab the stars and send them back!" Ash countered again.

"Use Psybeam to cancel them out!" Daisy countered.

Starmie began to shoot beams of psychic energy to destroy the incoming Swift attack but it suddenly stopped and began to grimace in pain.

"What's going on?" Daisy asked in confusion.

"I set you guys up." Ash said with a smirk.

"What do you mean?" Daisy asked curiously.

"Remember when I had Gaia use poison sting earlier? Well I knew that they wouldn't hit Goldeen, the reason I did that was to poison the water. That way if you guys decided to hide underwater your Pokémon would just ingest more and more poison." Ash said calmly.

Daisy and Misty's eyes widened.

"STARMIE GET OUT OF THE WATER!" Daisy shout in fear.

"Too late, the damage is already done! Use Psybeam when Starmie come out of the water!" Ash called out.

Starmie jumped out of the water but was immediately met with a Psybeam to its face that sent it crashing towards a platform.

"Starmie are you alright?!" Daisy asked with a voice that was full of concern.

Starmie got up shakily and nodded it's appendage at Daisy.

"Use Camouflage!" Daisy shouted.

Starmie suddenly vanished from sight.

"While your hidden use Recover!" Daisy shouted.

Ash's eyes widened. "Merlin we have to find it before it can use Recover!" Ash shouted.

'I am already on it!' Merlin answered as he already started looking for Starmie.

Merlin found Starmie and used Confusion to grab it, unfortunately Starmie has already gained a good portion of its health back from Recover.

"Use Signal Beam!" Daisy ordered.

"Get out of there!" Ash shouted worriedly.

Merlin dropped Starmie and teleported away. Just like the first battle Starmie knew where Merlin was about to appear and shot another Signal Beam where Merlin appeared.

The Signal Beam hit Merlin's right shoulder before he teleported again.

This was going just as Ash had predicted.

"Get behind him!" Ash shouted.

Merlin teleported directly behind Starmie which prevented Starmie from turning and using Signal Beam without getting caught in the blast itself.

Ash grinned. 'It's time to finish this!' Ash thought to himself.

"Use Confusion to hold it in place!" Ash said.

Merlin's spoons glowed cyan as he now has a grip on Starmie. Unfortunately Starmie began to struggle to break free from the psychic hold.

"Use Water Pulse!" Daisy shouted.

"Counter it with Psybeam!" Ash said.

While Starmie was in the psychic hold it charged an orb of water and shot it towards Merlin.

Merlin crossed his spoons as a Psybeam crashed into the water pulse which caused an explosion.

"Use Signal Beam While it's distracted!" Daisy shouted.

While there was a large amount of smoke in the area Starmie still found Merlin and shot a Signal Beam.

Unfortunately for Starmie, Merlin teleported right behind Starmie again and grabbed him with Confusion.

After the smoke cleared Daisy gasped as she was in the same exact predicament that she was in previously.

Ash said one word.

"Hypnosis" Ash said calmly.

Merlin teleported right in front of Starmie and his eyes glowed pink.

Hypnotic waves flowed from Merlin to Starmie which caused Starmie to droop down.

After Merlin used Hypnosis the first time he used it again which effectively put Starmie to sleep.

"Finish this up with Psybeam!" Ash shouted.

"STARMIE YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!" Daisy screamed.

Merlin crossed his spoons and charged a powerful Psybeam and sent it hurtling towards Starmie.

The Psybeam hit Starmie and sent it crashing to the wall. Starmie slid down and hit the floor. Starmie suddenly shuttered in pain from the poison overtaking his system before he slumped over and his jewel began to flash.

"Starmie is unable to battle, that means the winner of the round is Merlin. The victor of this battle if Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" Violet recited.

"WE DID IT!" Ash screamed as he ran over to Merlin and was about to give him a hug until he suddenly stopped and was encased in a cyan colored energy.

'I appreciate the enthusiasm Young Master, but I do not like hugs.' Merlin said as he put Ash back on the ground.

Ash chuckled. "Alright, I'll make a mental note for that." Ash said.

Dratini slithered over to Ash and Merlin and roared his approval.

'My appreciation Leader.' Merlin said.

Across the field Daisy returned Starmie and whispered thanks to its pokéball.

Daisy smiled as she and her sister made their way to Ash who was celebrating his victory with his pokémon.

"Congratulations Ash! That was an amazing battle! Poisoning the water has to be one of the most creative things we have seen in a long time!" Daisy said with a smile.

"Thanks but the ones who deserve the credit are my team! They worked insanely hard to do what they did and I'm extremely proud of them!" Ash said pridefully.

All of the girls looked at Ash with genuine happiness, there is nothing better than the relationship between a loving trainer and their pokémon.

"How did you come up with the idea of poisoning the water?" Misty asked curiously.

"I had to come up with a way to keep you guys from hiding in the water." Ash said with a chuckle and a hand behind his head.

"Well that was certainly creative!" Daisy said with a smile.

"We at the Cerulean Gym would like to present you with the Cascade badge!" Violet said as she pulled a teardrop-shaped badge from her front pocket.

Ash took the gym badge and a stupid smile was plastered on Ash's face.

"We are also giving this to you." Lily said as she pulled out a Technical Machine.

"This is Water Pulse. It's a good water type move that has a possibility to confuse your opponents!" Violet said.

"Thank you guys so much!" Ash said as he accepted the Technical Machine and put it in his backpack.

"It's our pleasure Ash! Do you have any plans on where to go next?" Lily asked.

"I don't, I know I want to challenge Lt. Surge next but I don't think my team is ready for him yet.

All four girls rolled their eyes.

"Yea you might want to train more if you plan on beating that barbaric brute." Misty said.

"I plan on it." Ash said.

"Good! We offer you best wishes Ash, we have other Challengers that we need to tend to. Maybe one day you can come back and we can battle using our real teams." Daisy said with a challenging glint in her eye.

"Sounds great to me!" Ash said with and equally challenging look.

* * *

Ash said his goodbyes to the girls and made his way to the Pokémon center. He had Gaia and Merlin healed up.

While he was waiting he went to the video phones and called his mother and Professor Oak. They both congratulated him on winning the Gym badge despite the loss previously.

After Ash got off the phone with them he grabbed Merlin and Gaia from Nurse Joy and made his way to the battlefield behind the Pokémon center.

Ash released his team.

They all appeared before him, with the exception of Dratini who was already out. Ash let a huge grin on his face.

Growlithe saw that happiness and barked in happiness. He gave Gaia and Merlin a bark of congratulations.

'Thank you Fire Mutt.' Merlin said cooly.

Dratini roared his congratulations to Gaia and Merlin once again.

Gaia nodded her head in acceptance and Merlin did as well.

"I'm so proud of you guys! You guys worked hard to win this and you guys truly deserve it!" Ash said proudly.

'It is not our victory alone Young Master, without you we would not have gotten this far. You also came up with the strategy to beat them.' Merlin responded.

"Let's call it a team effort then!" Ash said with a smile.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Now that we got the Cascade badge we are going to get the Thunder badge in Vermillion City. The gym Leader is Lt. Surge. From what I hear he is an absolute monster but I think we can take him." Ash explained

"However, right now we aren't ready to challenge him, so we are going to take a detour before we get to Vermillion City." Ash said.

Dratini looked at Ash questionly.

"I talked with Professor Oak and he suggested that we go to the abandoned electric factory. He thinks that an electric type would be valuable to our team." Ash said.

"Tomorrow we leave!" Ash said with a grin.

* * *

 **Well guys that's the chapter! I hope you guys like it. While I was writing this chapter I had to rewrite a lot of it because it didn't seem right to me.**

 **If there are any grammar mistakes, please let me know because I had to write this chapter from my phone.**

 **Next chapter Ash makes his way to the abandoned electric company. Who knows who or what Ash sees inside!**

 **Thanks for reading guys! Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys I'm back with another chapter! I'm so sorry for the super long wait. The reason this chapter didn't come out sooner is because I had really bad writers block and couldn't come up with a creative way to write this chapter. It took a little while to get the ball rolling but I think it came out pretty well! I also started school again and that is taking up a good chunk of my time. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **I don't own Pokémon or anything, I now present The Road Ahead.**

* * *

It's been a day since Ash and his team won the Cascade badge and left Cerulean City. Ash and his team traveled over halfway to the Abandoned Power Plant before turning in for the night.

They were currently training so they could prepare for Lt. Surge.

Growlithe was off to the side trying to harness electric type energy so he could use Wild Charge. Unfortunately he has had problems accessing it in the first place. Maybe once they get an electric type on his team then the electric type will help him access it better.

Merlin was still practicing Hypnosis. From Ash's understanding, and from being a test dummy, Merlin was very close to mastering it. He only needed a little more time before it was completely mastered.

Ash began to teach Gaia Toxic Spikes. Toxic Spikes would be a great move to get an advantage on his opponents by poisoning them. Ash isn't quite sure how it only poisons the opponents and not his own team but he isn't complaining. The design for Toxic Spikes aren't too far off from Poison Sting, it only requires a few alterations and she will have it down.

Gaia has also began to show signs of evolution. She has began to become more aggressive. The whiskers on her face have began to shorten, her tail has began to lengthen, her ears have started to grow larger and she has the beginnings of fangs appearing on the top part of her jaw.

Finally, Dratini is working on Aqua Jet. Lily did a great job on teaching him the basics, Dratini's only problem is that he still can't fully stop. It isn't as big of a problem when he is in battle since he can just crash into his opponent and stop that way, but Ash still wants to make sure Dratini can use Aqua Jet to dodge if need be.

Ash just finished his own workout and is currently walking around the clearing that they were practicing in. He wants to make sure that each member of his team has their moves down before they move on to the next. If Ash saw anything that he wanted to fix or adjust he would do so accordingly.

"Alright guys! Let's wrap it up, I'll get breakfast started up!" Ash said with a smile.

His team all gave tired grunts of cheer and started to head back to camp.

Ash made his way back to the camp and began making breakfast.

When he finished he placed the food in their bowls and set them out.

They all immediately dug into their food and quickly started to demolish it.

While his team was eating he was doing some research on what electric type he thought would fit into his team. He wasn't too specific on what he wanted, but he was sure that when he saw it he would know.

He put aside the pokédex and began to eat breakfast himself. He had a protein bar and some Oran juice. It wasn't anything fancy but it got the job done.

As Ash started to eat his food he looked at the map that was on his pokégear to see how far they are from the power plant. If they traveled diligently they could reach it a little bit past noon.

Ash looked up and saw that his team had already finished their food.

'They must've been starving.' Ash thought to himself as he quickly finished his food and began to clean up the camp.

* * *

Ash, Dratini, and Growlithe we're walking, or in Growlithe's case running around in circles, towards the power plant. Ash had Dratini slither on the ground so he could work on his stamina and he had Growlithe our so he could get some more exercise, which Growlithe greatly appreciated.

As they were walking Ash noticed the hair on his arms were starting to rise. He looked up and saw a building a small distance away. A smile crawled upon Ash's face and he began to run towards the building which caused Growlithe and Dratini to chase after him.

When he was nearing the building a Thundershock hit the ground right in front of Ash. Both Dratini and Growlithe immediately jumped in front of their trainer ready to protect him at any cost. Ash jumped back and got behind his pokémon.

They were ready for a battle but they slightly lowered their guards when nothing came out after a couple of minutes.

"Whatever that was must either be gone or is hiding." Ash said.

Ash stepped in front of the two pokémon and began to walk slowly towards the door. Dratini and Growlithe were at Ash's heel as he walked in the door.

They walked in and were immediately introduced to what looked like a front office. There was a receptionist desk that had a thick pane of glass in front of it. There were brown wooden chairs lined along the wall and a coffee table in the middle of the waiting area. There was an empty water cooler in the corner of the room that had paper cups next to it.

Ash looked around and saw that there was a door that seems like it would lead them further into the power plant.

With Dratini and Growlithe still on guard, Ash made his way through the door. They were introduced to large room with steel machines everywhere.

There were machines that had sparks jumping from it. The floor was steel as well as the walls. There were all kinds of machinery ranging from electrical generators to simple assembly line belts.

Ash's eyes widened, all over the building there were electric types. Ash saw an Electrode, a Magnemite, a couple Voltorb and a variety of other electric types. The interesting part was that there were electric types from other regions here as well. There was a Flaffy, Manectric, and Electrike.

Ash saw a Jolteon that peaked his interest but decided against it as three Eevee pups walk behind him.

Ash started to walk ahead and as he Dratini and Growlithe walked by the electric types eyed them cautiously. From what he was seeing if he left them alone then they would leave him alone.

As walked through the current room that they were in and they entered a different room. Inside that room was a very large generator that was surrounded by a multitude of Magnemite, Magneton, and two Mangezone. They were floating around the generator absorbing excess electricity.

"Look at all the pokémon in here guys!" Ash said excitedly.

Dratini and Growlithe simply grunted. They refused to let their guard down while their trainer was inside of this building.

Ash's eyes landed on a Pokémon that immediately caught his attention.

The pokémon was yellow and had black stripes it had muscular arms and a long striped tail. On its head were two antennas and two tufts of hair that stuck out.

"Dratini, do you think you can help capture that Electabuzz?!" Ash said with a wild grin.

Dratini looked at Ash and grinned back before nodding his head.

Electabuzz heard the noises behind him and his eyes landed on Ash.

To say Ash was surprised was an understatement when Electabuzz rolled its eyes and walked off nonchalantly.

'That's definitely a first...I guess they weren't interested in battling.' Ash thought to himself.

Ash shrugged his shoulders and turned to the Magnemite.

"Growlithe, you mind helping me get one of the Magnemite?" Ash asked.

Growlithe gave a bark and got in front of Ash ready to battle.

Ash pointed at a Magnemite and ordered an Ember. However, both Ash and Growlithe were caught off guard when Growlithe was suddenly hit with a Thunder Punch that sent him sliding back a foot or two effectively canceling his attack.

Ash was surprised and bewildered at the same time. He looked around to see what hit Growlithe but he couldn't see anything.

"I don't see anything?" Ash said confused.

As soon as Ash said that he heard what seems like an angry growling along with a sparking noise.

Ash's guard flew up when he heard the electricity and his head began to whip to the sides to find what was making that noise.

Ash noticed Growlithe was growling furiously at something so he directed his attention to where Growlithe was glaring.

To Ash's complete surprise was a fairly small Pokémon.

The pokémon was yellow with a black lightning bolt on his stomach, it also has black stripes around his arms and around his body. The pokémon has two thick arms that looked a little weak but considering the punch that just hit Growlithe Ash knew that they had to have some muscle in it. The pokémon has three claws on each hand and its head had two prongs that looked like an outlet.

"An Elekid?" Ash said aloud.

The small Elekid twirled his arms in a circle and began generating electricity which caused electricity to speak in between the two prongs on his head.

"You're pretty small aren't you? You must still be a baby." Ash said as he squatted down in an attempt to get close to eye level with the Elekid.

What Ash said clearly seemed to piss off Elekid even further since Elekid released a Thunder Shock at Ash. However, Growlithe quickly jumped in the way of the Thunder Shock and took the attack instead of Ash.

The attack did a decent amount of damage. This only pissed Growlithe off even more. Ash was surprised at how pissed Growlithe is. He is used to the happy go lucky puppy that he knew and loved, not this angry behemoth.

Before Ash could say anything else Elekid charged in with another Thunder Punch.

Fortunately Ash was ready this time.

"Dodge and follow up with Fire Fang!" Ash countered.

Elekid was beyond surprised when this oversized Growlithe nimbly dodged his attack.

Growlithe ignited his fangs and bit down hard on Elekid.

Ash could've swore he saw a smirk on Growlithe's face as he bit down on Elekid.

Elekid began to scream in pain. Elekid struggles a bit before he began to spark and released a Thunder Shock at point blank range.

The Thunder Shock forced Growlithe to let go of Elekid. Elekid landed on the ground and quickly used Thunder Punch again directly in Growlithe's face which caused Growlithe to slide back about three feet.

Ash was taken back. Despite his small size, Elekid definitely packs quite a punch.

"Are you okay Growlithe?" Ash asked in slight worry.

Growlithe shook it off and nodded his head.

"Good! Use Ember then Crunch. If it's still up after that use Fire Fang to finish it off!" Ash called.

Growlithe shot a large Ember at Elekid, but Elekid used Quick Attack to get out of the way.

Elekid then rushed in and used Low Kick which sent Growlithe crashing to the ground. Growlithe hit the ground with and he grunted.

"Quick use Ember!" Ash quickly shouted.

Growlithe quickly recovered and shot an Ember right in front of him on the ground which allowed him to get some space in between him and Elekid.

"Use Crunch followed by Fire Fang!" Ash shouted.

Growlithe was about to charge towards Elekid but was unable to when a series of stars came flying towards Growlithe.

"It know Swift?" Ash said with interest.

Growlithe was hit by Swift and began to charge in.

Elekid didn't expect Growlithe to power through his move and tried to use Quick Attack to get away but unfortunately Growlithe was already on him.

Growlithe pinned Elekid down and coated his teeth in dark type energy then bit down on Elekid with Crunch.

Elekid screamed in pain for a couple of seconds before using Thundershock again.

Unfortunately for Elekid Growlithe fought through the pain and switched from Crunch to Fire Fang. Elekid screeched in agony before going limp in Growlithe's mouth.

When Growlithe noticed that Elekid was passed out he spit him out of his mouth and walked back to Ash's side.

"Great job buddy!" Ash said as he grabbed an empty pokéball from his waist and threw it.

The pokéball soared through the air and right as it was about to hit Elekid a black tail flew through the air and smacked the pokéball effectively breaking it.

Ash's eyes narrowed.

Who was interfering with his capture.

Ash quickly got his answer when he heard two slams on the ground not far from him.

Ash whitened. A powerful looking Electivire was standing a couple of feet away from the passed out Elekid.

The Electivire looked very pissed off and from the looks of it he was ready to attack.

Dratini slithered next to Growlithe and they both took battle positions ready to fight.

Electivire charged two Thunder Punches and was about to charge Dratini and Growlithe but was stopped by the sound of a voice.

"STAND DOWN NOW!" A booming voice sounded off.

Ash's head snapped to where the voice came from.

Walking towards them was a man who was well over 6 foot. The man had spiky yellow hair and a toned face that showed his jawline phenomenally. He was dressed in camouflage army pants, an army green jacket with no shirt underneath, black combat boots, and a black belt. On his shoulder was a mouse with a long tail that ended in a lightning bolt. The mouse was tan all over with a cream colored stomach. It's hands and feet were a dark brown and it had yellow spots on his cheeks.

"L-Lt. Surge?!" Ash questioned.

"I said Stand. Down." Lt. Surge repeated.

The Electivire still had electricity coursing through both of his fists and was contemplating ignoring the man and attacking the brat and the two Pokémon in front of him but when it saw the Raichu on the man's shoulder narrow its eyes and spark its cheek he immediately cut off the electricity to his hands.

"That's more like it." Lt. Surge said with a smirk.

The Raichu on Lt. Surge's shoulder had a similar smirk on his face that his trainer had.

Lt. Surge turned from the Electivire and looked at the kid.

"Whatis a runt like you doing here?" Lt. Surge asked in a mocking tone.

Ash took a second to breath and calm his nerves, he was in front of one of the strongest gym leaders in Kanto.

"I-I'm here to catch and electric type. Professor Oak said that it would add a good balance." Ash answered.

"Old man Oak said that huh?" Lt. Surge said to himself quietly.

"What are you doing here if you don't mind me asking?" Ash asked.

"The league sent me here because the electric types have been getting restless and rather aggressive as you can see. Since I'm one of the most knowledgeable people on electric types in Kanto and since I come here quite often I was sent here to figure out what the hell is going on." Lt. Surge answered.

"That explains why that Elekid suddenly attacked my Growlithe and why that Electivire tried to attack us a second ago." Ash said.

Lt. Surge looked to the side and saw the Elekid knocked out. He smirked, that Elekid has been a pain in his ass for a long time and he might finally get him out of his hair.

Lt. Surge then looked down Dratini and Growlithe who were both still on guard and were willing to battle this man.

He looked at both of the Pokémon but he looked a bit longer at Growlithe.

"That's quite the Growlithe you have there, Blaine would lose his shit if he saw him!" Lt. Surge said as he and Raichu bellowed in laughter.

Ash smiled as he rubbed Growlithe's head.

Lt. Surge and Raichu finally calmed down and composed themselves.

"That Elekid has been a real pain in my ass, everytime I come here it challenges me and it gets crushed every time. I never bothered to catch it because I already have an Electivire and it also lacks experience and either being a Gym Leader I wouldn't have enough time to raise it up." Lt. Surge said.

A look of understanding came upon Ash's face.

"Well I was planning on catching it until I was interrupted." Ash said as he shot a dirty glance at the Electivire that was standing to the side looking irritated.

"By the way, is that your Electivire?" Ash asked.

"No, my Electivire is back at Vermillion City. If my Electivire were here she would tear that little punk to shreds." Lt. Surge said with a sinister smile.

"Oookay." Ash said as he looked towards Elekid.

Elekid was beginning to get up, once it saw Lt. Surge he began to weakly Spin his arms to gain electricity.

Once he deemed he had enough juice he sluggishly charged Lt. Surge but his Raichu casually grabbed Elekid with its tail and tossed him back.

Ash shook his head.

He walked up to the downed Elekid and crouched down to eye level. Dratini and Growlithe were right behind him.

"Hey, I'm Ash! I see that you have quite the battling spirit." Ash said.

Elekid tried to get up to attack but he was too drained to do anything.

Ash smiled at that.

"I like that fighting spirit. How would you like to join my team? I'm going to be the best Pokémon trainer there ever was or ever will be and I'm going to need strong Pokémon to help me get there. If you agree to this I can promise you that you will be in plenty of battles, you will train frequently and you will train hard. I can also promise that I can get you to evolve a lot faster than you would in here. So what do you say?" Ash asked.

Dratini and Growlithe waited patiently behind Ash. Growlithe remembered that Ash gave him almost the exact same speech. That speech gave Growlithe that same excited feeling, he would do anything to make his trainer the best.

Elekid finally stopped trying to attack Ash and he pondered on the offer he was just given.

"You would also get access to food and shelter." Ash added.

Elekid took that into consideration before coming to a decision.

It grinned and nodded his head, it had a fire in his eyes that showed his determination. It was clear that Elekid had a strong desire to get stronger.

A grin appeared on Ash's face that matched Elekid.

Ash pulled out a pokéball and presented it to the Elekid.

"This is a pokéball, I assume you know how it works." Ash said. Elekid nodded his head.

All Pokémon have a general idea of what a pokéball is and what it does.

Elekid finally forced himself to his feet and was about to tap the pokéball but he stopped.

Ash tilted his head to the side in curiosity.

Elekid narrowed his eyes and punched his fists together and pointed to Growlithe.

Ash smiled a bit more, looks like his team will have a rivalry in it.

Elekid stopped glaring at Growlithe and focused on the pokéball once again.

Elekid reaches out and tapped the center of the pokéball. Elekid was converted to a scarlet colored light and sucked into the pokéball. The pokéball struggled a tad bit to show Elekid struggling for a second before it dinged in success.

As soon as the capture was complete Ash released Elekid once again.

"Alright, now that I've caught you I'm going to scan you to see what moves you can use and your abilities." Ash said as he reached for his pokédex.

 **Elekid, the Electric pokémon, It generates electricity by whirling its arms. However, it can't store the energy it makes.**

 **Gender: Male**

 **Abilities: Static**

 **Moves Known: Quick Attack, Leer, Low Kick, Thunder Shock, Thunder Punch, Swift, Shock Wave**

 **Egg Moves: Karate Chop, Meditate, Cross Chop**

 **Size: Small**

"You're quite impressive even though you're on the shorter side!" Ash said with a smile.

An anger tick mark appeared on Elekid's forehead and Elekid walked forward and punched Ash in the stomach which caused Ash to fall over in pain.

Dratini rolled his eyes, he deserved that one. He should've figured out Elekid doesn't like to be called short or small.

Growlithe shook his head and walked over to Ash and began to lick him to make his feel better.

Lt. Surge watched the whole situation. He could already tell that Ash would have his hands full with Elekid.

"The best ever huh? That takes some balls to say that in front of one do the most powerful gym leaders in Kanto." Lt. Surge said with a smirk

"I believe in speaking things into existence, so you better be ready because I'm coming for you!" Ash said as he got back up.

Lt. Surge gave Ash a very intimidating grin. "I can't wait to crush you like the baby you are!" Lt. Surge retorted.

Ash matched his grin, "And I can't wait to beat you!" Ash said challengingly.

Lt. Surge let out a laugh.

"It's nice to see not all trainers are scared of their own shadows, I'll be looking forward to seeing you in my gym. Now I have to get back to Vermillion, I have some trainers to annihilate." Lt. Surge said as he turned to walk away.

Ash watched Lt. Surge leave the power plant with an excited feeling in his stomach. He couldn't wait to challenge him.

* * *

Ash, Dratini and Growlithe were on their way out of the power plant until something caught Ash's eye. He was walking by a desk and something sparkly caught his eye.

Ash bent down to grab whatever was on the floor.

The object was an all black pen that attaches to the collar of a jacket that had an "A" insignia on it.

"A pen?" Ash questioned.

Ash took a good look at it before shrugging his shoulders and throwing the pendant in his pocket and leaving.

* * *

Lt. Surge was currently on the back of a rather large Luxray that was running full speed back to Vermillion City. Luxray was running as if Lt. Surge was never there. She ran effortlessly and was full of grace.

Lt. Surge was deep in thought until he received a call on his pokégear. He pulled it out and checked to see who it was.

It was the league.

"Lt. Surge speaking."

"What did you find?" Asked a feminine voice.

Lt. Surge's eyes narrowed and a dark aura began to radiate off of him.

"I couldn't find anything, but I did notice that there aren't as many Pokémon there that I'm used to seeing. It's either trainers have suddenly found interest in electric types or something or someone is at work here." Lt. Surge reported.

The female on the line was silent for a second. It was clear that she was thinking about something.

"Alright, get back to Vermillion as soon as you can." The voice instructed.

"On it." Lt. Surge said as the connection on the phone was cut off.

"Damn woman." Lt. Surge said as rode off.

* * *

Ash had travelled a good distance away from the power plant before he found a good sized clearing that would allow them to get some good training done and to camp for the night.

He released his team in front of him so he could introduce everyone to Elekid.

Four beams of scarlet light appeared in front of him.

Elekid still looked tired since Ash has yet to heal him.

"I have someone I want you guys to meet, this is our new teammate." Ash said as Elekid stepped up in front of the rest of the team.

"I forgot to ask, do you want a nickname?" Ash asked.

Elekid thought about it for a second before nodding his head.

Ash went through a series of nicknames that all got rejected.

"Sparky?"

Rejected.

"Static?"

Rejected.

Ash went through a series of other nicknames before he finally found one that Elekid liked.

"Ion?"

Elekid pondered it for a second before smiling and punching his fist together.

"Ion it is then!" Ash said with a smile.

"Guys I want you to meet Ion! We met him in the abandoned power plant.

Dratini of course already knew about Elekid so it merely nodded his head. He would explain that he is the leader at a later time.

Merlin looked at Ion and inspected him for a while before nodding in acceptance. Merlin then teleported to the corner and began to meditate.

Growlithe barked happily at Ion since he already knew him. Growlithe walked over to Ion and was getting ready to sniff Ion to remember his scent but Ion wasn't going to let that happen.

Ion tried to whirls his arms to get electricity but since he was still tired from his previous battle at the power plant he didn't generate much. However, with the electricity that he did generate he charged a Thunder Punch and swung at Growlithe's face.

Luckily Growlithe quickly moved out of the way so that the Thunder Punch missed. Growlithe got into battle position then bared his fangs and began to growl. He didn't like surprise attacks.

Merlin grabbed Ion with his telekinesis and brought him over to Ash.

'We will clearly have problems with Fire Mutt and The Little brat.' Merlin said with a voice that dropped with annoyance along with an eye roll.

Ash held his under Ion and nodded at Merlin signaling that he has him. Merlin let go of Ion allowing him to drop into Ash's arms.

"I admire the bravery for attacking Growlithe but you're going to have to learn that Growlithe is your teammate and you two are going to have to get along. It's fine if you want to battle each other in practice, but outside of practice we are a team that needs to stick together!" Ash said seriously to Ion.

Ion rolled his eyes and turned his head with a huff. Ion crossed his arms.

Ash rolled his eyes and set him down in front of him.

Ash reached for his backpack and began to grab things he would need to heal Ion.

Growlithe began to walk slowly and cautiously up one more time to get Ion's scent. He made sure that he didn't give Ion a chance to attack him again. Growlithe leaned in and sniffed Ion. He walked around Ion and sniffed his whole body, after a couple of seconds Growlithe stopped and walked a couple of feet away from Ash and sat down.

Gaia walked up to Ion cautiously but confidently, if he wanted to attack her she would make sure he paid for it. When she got close enough to him she began to sniff him just as Growlithe had done previously. After she was done she walked back to her previous spot.

"Alright guys! Now that everyone has introduced themselves let's get some more training done. I feel like we aren't ready for Lt. Surge quite yet, so we will start spending more time training. I'm going to incorporate some new things that I feel will be beneficial." Ash said as he started to spray Ion with a potion.

All of his pokémon nodded their heads in agreement, they knew they barely got by the last gym so they needed to get stronger.

"For now I want you guys to warm up with some speed training. I'll be over there in a second to tie some rocks to Dratini and Growlithe." Ash said as he finished spraying Ion.

They nodded their heads and walked off to start getting ready to train.

Ash walked to his bag and grabbed some rope and scanned the area for some good sized rocks that he could use for weight resistance. After he found some rocks that he felt were good enough he tied them up to Dratini and Growlithe and sent them off to start training.

While they were running he would have Ion eat and Oran berry or two before sending him off to run as well. Nobody would be safe from Ash's training session for the next couple of days.

* * *

After they finished running Ash had everyone work on the moves they already knew to make sure they still looked sharp and to improve anything that he thought was lacking such as charge time and anything else of the sort.

While he was doing that he decided to work with Ion to test his moves out.

"Alright Ion, do you see that tree over there?" Ash asked as he pointed to a rather large tree not too far from where they were standing.

Ion nodded.

"I want you to use Thunder Shock on that tree. Even though I've already seen some of your moves I would like to see them again." Ash said.

Ion nodded before swinging his arms to charge up. Once he had enough he shot a decent Thunder Shock at the tree. It almost missed its mark but it left a dent in the tree nonetheless.

"Judging from that I can already tell we will need to work on your accuracy." Ash said while writing in his notes.

"I want you to use Shock Wave next if you would." Ash said.

Ion once again began to swing his arms to charge up and once he felt like he had enough he shot a wide electrical impulse at the tree that caused the tree to spark for a little bit before the electricity dissolved.

"It looks good so far, we just need it to get stronger." Ash said as he continued to write in his notes.

"Can you use Swift next?" Ash requested.

Ion nodded before he swung his arms, the only difference this time is that he shot stars out of his mouth. The stars were outlined in white energy and went straight to the tree and impaled themselves deep into the bark.

"Perfect! Good job Ion!" Ash said with a smile as he wrote in his notes.

Ion paused for a second. Nobody had ever praised him for doing something so basic before. A small smile crawled on his face.

"Alright next up is Thunder Punch." Ash said

Ion started to run towards the tree while swinging his arms in circles, when he got close he stopped swinging his arms. He coated one of his fists in electricity and reared it back, when he hit the tree a decent sized dent was remaining.

Ash's eyes widened. He knew Ion packed a punch but he wasn't sure exactly how strong.

"That was great buddy! If it's this strong now, I can't wait to see how strong it will be when you're an Electivire!" Ash said with a toothy smile.

Ion started to smile and swing his arms excitedly.

"Alright come back to me, the last one is Quick Attack." Ash said.

Ion nodded his head and coated himself in normal type energy before he sped towards the tree. He crashed into the tree, in doing so he deepened the dent that was already there.

"Alright bud! You're moves look great! All that's left to do is to catch you up with the rest of the team." Ash said with a smile.

Ion nodded and gave Ash a good punch to the gut with a smile.

"Ugh! That really hurts.."

* * *

Ash called his team over and had them line up in front of him. He was ready to try something that he knew would only help his team.

"We are going to do something a little different!" Ash said with an excited smile.

His team all looked at him with tilted heads and confused faces.

"I want you guys to battle each other. I'm not going to help you at all. The purpose of doing this is to see where you need help, that way we can fix it as soon as possible. It will also help you guys learn to battle for yourselves in situations where I can't see you and you are by yourself." Ash explained.

His team nodded and began to look at each other. They were wondering whom would battle whom.

"I've already decided who will battle who. It will be Gaia vs Growlithe and Dratini vs. Merlin. Dratini and Merlin are up first!" Ash said with a smile.

Dratini and Merlin nodded and went out towards the clearing. Once they were out there they put some distance in between each other before starting their battle.

"Ion, I want you next to me so you can watch closely. I don't mean to be harsh or anything, but I want you to see how much stronger they are than you. If you work hard then you'll be able to battle them head-to-head!" Ash said.

Ion nodded with a fiery determination in his eyes. He couldn't wait to be able to fight strong opponents.

"Begin!" Ash shouted.

Dratini started by slipping into Agility and sped towards Merlin.

Merlin waited until the last possible second and teleported directly behind Dratini firing a Confusion from point blank range.

The Confusion sent Dratini crashing forward into the ground. Dratini grimaced in pain but got up looking quite annoyed.

Dratini opened his mouth and an orb of dragon type energy was already forming. Once it was large enough he fired at Merlin who watched it calmly. Merlin once again attempted to teleport right behind Dratini, however, Dratini quickly caught on to Merlin's pattern and used Wrap milliseconds before Merlin teleported and caught Merlin perfectly.

Merlin widened his eyes in surprise and tried to teleport.

What happened next made Ash grin like a maniac.

Merlin teleported like he wanted to, however, instead of teleporting by himself he teleported Dratini along with him.

This caused both Merlin and Dratini to pause in shock but Dratini locked back in quickly.

Dratini quickly charged and shot out a Thunder Wave at point blank range effectively catching Merlin off guard and paralyzing him. Dratini grinned, he knew that with Merlin being paralyzed it would affect him teleporting away.

Merlin grimaced from the paralysis but he powered through it by charging and firing a Psybeam at point blank range sending Dratini crashing into the ground once again.

Dratini slid forward face first in the dirt and got up looking even more pissed off. Dratini slipped into Agility once again but this time he used Aqua Jet. The speed boost from Agility and the speed from Aqua Jet allowed Dratini to move at extraordinary speeds. From Ash and Ion's point of view Dratini looked like a blue blur.

Merlin saw tha Attack coming and knew he had to get out of the way so he tried to teleport away but due to the paralysis kicking in he was slammed into with great speed and power.

Merlin had taken a lot of damage and had the breath knocked out of him. It didn't look too good for Merlin.

Dratini covered his tail in steel type energy and was about was ready to continue his offensive assault. However, Merlin has other ideas.

Once Dratini got close enough Merlin used Confusion to catch Dratini and hold him in mid-air facing him.

Merlin held up his spoons and his eyes began to turn pink and emit hypnotic waves towards Dratini. Some of the waves hit Dratini but Dratini refused to go down like that. He needs to prove that he is the leader of this team for a reason and that he's the strongest on the team.

Dratini began to struggle immensely to break out of Merlin's grip and as soon as he was about to break out Merlin decided to try something new.

Merlin gripped his spoons tighter in an effort to focus harder. He continued to use Hypnosis on the flailing Dragon but unfortunately for Merlin Dratini broke out of his hold.

Dratini swing around and hit Merlin with a half formed Iron Tail. Fortunately for Dratini he still got the result he wanted which was to create some separation and cause some more damage to Merlin.

As Merlin hit the ground he suffered from paralysis and stated laying down for an extra second or so. After he was ready he teleported to Dratini's flank and used Psybeam once again which nailed would've nailed Dratini but he tried to dodge at the last second and escaped from the Psybeam almost unscathed. He was still hit by the move but just barely.

Dratini thrust his tail out to grab Merlin, Merlin was about to teleport away but he was struck by bad luck once again.

Paralysis struck again causing Merlin to go rigid. That allowed Dratini to Wrap Merlin up and trap him. Dratini smirked, he knew that he could end this battle here.

Dratini opened his mouth and began to charge a Dragon Rage and fire it in Merlin's face.

"Alright that enough, I don't need either of you getting seriously hurt." Ash stepped in.

Dratini stopped his attack right before he was about to fire and gradually allowed the Dragon Rage to dissipate. He also allowed Merlin to escape from his grasp which Merlin greatly appreciated.

Ash stepped up and stood in front of both Dratini and Merlin.

"Great job you two! That exactly what I expect from you two! I saw some things I liked and I saw some things I didn't like. First, I liked your guys instincts. You both did a great job of dodging and avoiding attacks. I also liked the combo you did Dratini. Agility and Aqua Jet was a smart combo, we might have to utilize that more. Merlin I was surprised when you teleported and brought Dratini along for the ride. It shows me that you are getting stronger and should we ever end up in a bad situation I know that you can get us out of it. You guys battled very smart and I'm very proud of you two!" Ash said with a smile.

Both Dratini and Merlin smiled at their trainers praise. They always loved it when their trainer praised them.

"However, Dratini you let your emotions get the better of you and charge in without thinking. Doing something like that in the league will get you caught in something you don't want to be caught in. It's okay to be mad just learn how to channel that anger better. You also use your moves sloppily when you're mad so that needs to be cleaned up as well." Ash said while looking at Dratini.

"Merlin, although your teleportation is a phenomenal way to dodge and get around the battlefield, you have to change it up. In your battle against Daisy in the gym battle you almost always teleported behind Starmie. You did the same thing in this battle. Since Dratini watched your gym battle as well he knew that you like to teleport right behind your opponent which is why he was able to figure out where you were going to be and catch you. Other than that, all I can think of is to improve your move pool. If you were to run into a dark type then you wouldn't be able to touch them. So I think we will either start learning Miracle Eye next or Shadow ball. I'm not sure which yet but we will figure it out." Ash said.

'I will try to fix it Young Master.' Merlin said.

"Great job you two, you two are done for the day. Go ahead and relax." Ash said as he turned to Gaia and Growlithe.

"Alright you two, you're up!" Ash said.

The two nodded their heads and went to where Dratini and Merlin started their battle.

Once ash was sure they had enough separation he started the battle.

"Begin!"

Growlithe started the match off by charging in head first while shooting multiple Embers.

Gaia did her best to dodge them but she was eventually hit by one which gave the opening for other Embers to hit her and send her sliding back a couple of feet.

Growlithe took advantage of the open opportunity and used Fire Fang. He grabbed Gaia in his massive flaming jaws and begin to shake his head back and forth causing his teeth to dig deeper and deeper into her skin.

Gaia cried out in pain but she fought through and used Poison Sting directly in Growlithe's face.

The Poison Sting caused Growlithe to let Gaia go which allowed Gaia to get some distance between them.

When Gaia was satisfied with the distance between them she turned and shot Poison Sting again.

Growlithe saw it coming but charged in anyways so he could use Crunch. As Growlithe got closer to Gaia he was being pelted with a barrage of Poison Sting which eventually slowed Growlithe down but it didn't stop him.

When he finally got close enough he coated his teeth in dark type energy and leaned down to bit Gaia again but Gaia wouldn't allow it to happen twice. She jumped and used Double Kick to shut Growlithe's jaw and send him sliding back a couple feet back.

Growlithe whined as he slid back. When he stopped he crouched down and shot Embers off again hoping to have the same result as last time.

However, instead of trying to dodge the Embers again, Gaia used Big Sting to cancel the Embers out which caused large clouds of smoke to cover the battlefield effectively blinding Gaia and Growlithe's view of each other..

Growlithe instantly used Odor Sleuth to lock on to Gaia's scent. Growlithe closed his eyes and began to sniff the air for a few seconds. After a bit he caught on to Gaia's scent.

He dashed into the smoke in an attempt to catch Gaia off guard with a Fire Fang. However, Gaia was ready. With her phenomenal hearing she could hear Growlithe running towards her at a quick pace and she quickly jumped out of the way and countered with Poison Sting.

Growlithe grimaced for a second but turned around ready to attack once again but Gaia was already on the assault with Big Sting.

Growlithe was about to use Ember to cancel out Big Sting but he suddenly felt a surge of pain run through his body which caused him to involuntarily cancel his move. Thus, allowing him to get pummeled by the barrage of Big Sting.

Growlithe howled in pain but jumped to the side to get out of the way of the attack, however, Gaia heard where Growlithe landed and adjusted her aim according so she could continue her assault.

"That's enough guys." Ash said ending the battle.

Gaia finally stopped shooting her poisonous needles allowing Growlithe to walk over to Ash.

When Growlithe got to where Ash was at Ash noticed a purple tint on Growlithe's face.

"Hold on for a second guys." Ash said as he walked over to his bag to grab a couple of Pecha Berries and came back.

"Here Growlithe, these will help you feel better." Ash said while feeding Growlithe the berries and petting his head.

Growlithe barked in appreciation and quickly ate the berries.

"You guys did a great job, I liked some things you guys did out there. Growlithe I like your mobility and how much endurance you have. That will definitely come in handy later on. I like how you used Ember to get in close, doing that keeps your opponent on their toes and forces them to dodge while you are closing in. However, just because you have a lot of endurance doesn't mean that you are invincible. You took a lot of unnecessary hits that could have easily been avoided. After you master Wild Charge we will work on a move that will allow you to have a ton of mobility." Ash said with a smile.

Growlithe barked and nodded his head, he was determined to get stronger so he could help Ash be the best.

"Gaia, I liked how you used your ears to figure out where Growlithe was and capitalized on the opportunity. You did a great job of trying to keep Growlithe at a distance with Big Sting and Poison Sting. We just need to add to your arsenal and add more long ranged moves, we can add a few close ranged moves incase you get into a close range fight. I think the only thing that we really need to work on is the speed of your moves, if we can cut down on how long it takes to charge your moves then we will be golden." Ash said while rubbing Gaia's head.

Gaia leaned into Ash's hand and preened under Ash's praise.

"Alright guys, that's enough for the day. Go ahead and relax while I start dinner!" Ash said as he started to make his way back to camp.

Everyone nodded their heads and went to their own respective spots to relax. Dratini followed Ash, Growlithe went to the fire pit and lit it with and ember and laid down by it. Merlin went to go meditate under a tree, and Gaia went and laid down about a couple feet away from Growlithe.

While Ash was cooking Ion looked around at all of the pokémon laying down. He didn't realize how much stronger they all are then him. As much as he doesn't want to admit it, he is the weakest one here. Even that oversized mutt is stronger than him.

Ion narrowed his eyes, he was determined to not only catch up to the rest of the team but to be able to beat all of them.

Ash could see Ion out of the corner of his eye while he was cooking. He could see the drive in his eyes to catch up to the rest of his teammates. Part of the reason for those battles was to see how his team battles without him, and the other part was to show Ion how much training he will need to do to catch up with the rest of the team.

Ash smirked. It's going to be a long road ahead for Ion.

* * *

 **Annnnnd that's the chapter! Ash officially got his fifth teammate and he will definitely be a lot of fun to use. I had a lot of trouble trying to find a way to have Ash encounter Ion. I was contemplating what size to make Ion but I eventually decided that since I have a Royal size on his team he should also have a Small. So I hope you guys enjoyed. Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys! I'm back with another update, since I'm back in school again the chapters should come out every month, maybe twice a month if I can squeeze it in. Thank you to everyone who left a PM or a review, I always read every review and I'm trying to get better at responding. Thanks for reading and enjoy!**

 **I don't own Pokémon or anything, I now present The Road Ahead.**

* * *

It's been two days since Ash and his team left the Abandoned Power Plant and captured the newest addition to their little family; Ion.

From what Ash has noticed is that Ion has quite the size complex, he has a strong dislike for any Pokémon that are bigger than him. However, Ion doesn't necessarily dislike the rest of the team except for Growlithe. Ion had a strong dislike for Growlithe. Ash isn't quite sure if it's because Growlithe towers over Ion or some other reason, but Ion clearly doesn't like Growlithe.

Ion has taken to Ash's training like a Magikarp to water. Ion thoroughly enjoys the training that Ash has put him through and he gives his absolute all. But despite his best efforts he knows he has a long way until he catches up with the rest of the team.

The light from the morning sun pierced through the trees of the surrounding forest and found its way onto Gaia's face. Gaia scrunched her face at the presence of the light in her face and slowly blinked her eyes as she began to wake up.

Gaia looked around the camp and saw that everyone was still sound asleep. Of course there was the exception of Merlin who was still floating off to the side meditating. Gaia couldn't tell if that counts as sleeping or not but she shrugged it off.

Gaia got up from where she was sleeping (which was the foot of Ash's sleeping bag) and began to stretch out her muscles. In the midst of her stretching her stomach began to rumble as she realized she was hungry. She looked at her sleeping trainer and decided not to wake him up.

Gaia decided that she was once a wild Pokémon and should be able to find some berries around here. She then remembered that she saw some berry bushes around here after they finished training last night. Gaia then turned and began to walk in the direction she remembered seeing the berry bushes.

She walked for maybe a minute or two before she saw the Oran bushes from last night. Gaia saw the multitude of berries and decided that she should bring berries for the rest of the team.

She considers the team her family so as the future queen of the family she felt obligated to bring food for everyone else. Gaia began to grab some berries and was about to carry them back until she realized something.

She had no way to carry all of these berries.

Her short arms wouldn't allow her to carry that many berries back, on top of that, she needed her arms to walk since she wouldn't be able to walk on two legs until she evolved. As of now all she could do would be to go back to camp and have someone help her carry them all back.

She gathered up all of the berries in one spot and hid them in an empty tree trunk nearby. Once she was sure the berries were safe and hidden well enough she made her way back to camp.

As she got back to camp some of the others were beginning to wake up. Growlithe was beginning to wake up and was currently in the downward dog position stretching his large muscles. As he stretched he opened his mouth and let out a massive yawn. After he was finished he looked around to see who else was awake. He saw that Dratini was still asleep curled up right next to Ash, Merlin meditating off to the side, and Ion sleeping sitting against a tree.

Growlithe turned and saw Gaia already wake and he padded his way over to Gaia and greeted her with a friendly smile and a nod.

Gaia nodded her head in return and padded over to Merlin since he would be the only one who would be able to help her besides Ash.

As soon as Gaia got close enough Merlin responded.

'Yes?' Merlin asked Gaia.

Gaia flinched a bit as she isn't completely used to Merlin's telepathy quite yet but she continued anyways.

She gave a series of grunts and motioned towards where the berries were hidden.

'I think I got the message. Lead the way and I will give you assistance.' Merlin responded.

Gaia nodded and made her way back to were the berries were hidden along with Merlin floating behind her.

When they came back to the place where the berries were hidden Gaia moved some of the brush that was covering them and showed Merlin.

'That's quite the supply.' Merlin said.

Gaia nodded and smiled.

The berries were then outlined in a cyan hue and started to rise. They floated to Merlins level and froze.

'Let us make our way back to camp.' Merlin said as he started to make his way back.

Gaia nodded and followed him.

* * *

The sun light spread and began to cover Ash's face. Ash groaned and squinted from the light that was in his eyes.

Ash sat up in his sleeping bag and just sat there for a minute. He raised his arms and stretched to wake up his dormant muscles. He looked around and saw that almost everyone was awake now except for Ion and Dratini. He wasn't shocked in the slightest? Baby Pokémon need their sleep and Dratini has always been lazy.

"Where did Gaia and Merlin go?" Ash asked Growlithe.

Growlithe pointed in the direction that his teammates went.

As soon as Growlithe pointed to where they had gone the two came out of the bushes with a multitude of berries.

"Woah! Where'd you guys get all of those?" Ash asked in surprise.

'Gentle one found them.' Merlin answered.

"Who?" Ash with a confused look on his face.

'Gentle one.' Merlin repeated as he motioned to Gaia.

"Oh" Ash said in realization.

Ash got out of his sleeping bag and went to Gaia and rubbed her head.

"Good job Gaia!" Ash praised.

Gaia preened under his touch.

Ash turned to Merlin.

"Can you help me wash the berries off so I can put them in your breakfast?" Ash asked Merlin.

'Of course Young Master.' Merlin answered as he began to levitate to a nearby stream.

Ash stood up and made his way that was very close to their camp and met Merlin.

The two quickly washed the berries off and returned to camp where Ash quickly made an Oran berry themed breakfast.

"Alright guys, breakfast is ready!" Ash announced.

Everyone who was awake went to their bowls and began to eat. At the sound of food Dratini's eyes snapped open and he shot towards his bowl and began demolishing his food.

Ash noticed Ion was still asleep and he walked over to where Ion was to wake up the electric type.

"Wake up Ion, it's time to eat." Ash said gently.

Ion shifted in his sleep at the sound of Ash calling him and he opened his eyes to see Ash smiling warmly at him.

"You ready to eat?" Ash asked.

Ion sat up and nodded his head.

"Good, because food is ready!" Ash said as he gestured to where everyone was eating.

Ion got up and ran over to his food bowl.

Ash smiled as he watched his team eat.

"Alright guys, we've been training hard and we've made good ground to Vermillion City, I think that we all deserve a break! So today is our day off!" Ash announced with a smile.

Everyone stopped eating only to cheer for the announcement.

Ash smiled, they really deserved this day off.

* * *

After everyone ate they all went to do their separate things.

Dratini sprawled out and went right back to sleep after he finished eating.

Merlin went off to the side of the clearing and began to meditate once again.

Gaia was laying down relaxing somewhat close to Merlin.

Ion was playing with some wild Rattata.

Lastly, Growlithe was lying in a sun patch with his tongue out of his mouth. He rolled over once. Then again. Then again.

To anybody who saw Growlithe could come up to a conclusion.

Growlithe was bored.

Growlithe finally got up and looked around the clearing to see what everyone else was doing. He looked to Dratini and paddled his way over. As Growlithe got closer Dratini started to hear footsteps coming towards him.

Dratini opened a single eye and saw Growlithe approaching him with a goofy look on his face. Dratini rolled his eyes and attempted to go back to sleep. However, Growlithe wouldn't let him get away that easy.

Growlithe approached Dratini and got down in a playful position. He let out a playful bark at Dratini inviting him to come play with him.

An anger tick mark appeared on Dratini's forehead as his nap was being interrupted. Dratini lifted the end of his tail and tried to shoo off Growlithe.

Growlithe misunderstood the sign and thought Dratini was playing with him. So Growlithe did what any other Growlithe would do, he ran around Dratini pouncing around him.

Another tick mark grew on Dratini's forehead and his eyes snapped open and he began to growl at Growlithe. This was their first day off and this mutt wants to ruin his nap by playing? Dratini coated his tail in Iron and slammed it onto the ground right in front of Growlithe.

Growlithe stopped pouncing around Dratini and sat down and tilted his head in confusion.

Dratini growled once again and waved his tail in front of him dangerously warming Growlithe to leave him alone.

Growlithe's ears dropped and he slowly walked away from Dratini who finally laid back down to go back to sleep.

Growlithe looked around once again to see who would want to play with him. He looked around until his eyes landed on his next teammate.

Merlin.

Growlithe put on a friendly smile and paddled towards the tree that Merlin was meditating under.

Although Merlin's eyes were closed he saw the altercation that just occurred and decided to avoid the hyperactive puppy altogether.

Growlithe started to get close to Merlin when he suddenly heard a very serious "No." Growlithe then stopped and realized that he couldn't move. He looked down and realized that he was outlined in a cyan hue and was being lifted off of the ground.

Growlithe was carried back to his original spot in the sun and was dropped.

Growlithe hit the ground with a thud which caused him to let out a surprised yelp. Growlithe turned and sent Merlin a glare for a second before quickly putting it behind him.

Growlithe once again scanned the area until he found who he wanted to play with.

He saw Ion chasing around Rattata which seemed like fun.

Growlithe galloped over to Ion and let out a playful bark which scared the daylights out of every Rattata and Ion.

Ion jumped and charged up a Thunder Punch and swung it towards Growlithe on instinct.

Growlithe saw the punch coming and narrowly dodged the punch by the hairs on his chin.

This caused Growlithe to fall over and roll around in laughter.

Both Merlin and Dratini both chuckled at Ion's scare.

Once Ion calmed down and saw it was Growlithe who scared him, he narrowed his eyes in anger and charged up two Thunder Punches. Growlithe slowly stopped laughing as he turned and began to run away from Ion playfully.

Ion growled and gave chase to the overgrown puppy.

Growlithe finally had someone to "play" with.

Ash saw Ion chasing Growlithe and sighed while shaking his head.

"It's probably best that those two wear each other out." Ash said to himself.

Gaia watched the boys run around and rolled her eyes. Why must those boys be such brutes? At least not all of her teammates are brutes. as she walked over to Ash and sat down next to him.

Ash smiled and rubbed the top of her head softly. Gaia was perfectly content sitting next to her trainer.

Ash was glad that not all of the Pokémon on his team are as energetic as Growlithe and Ion. He was glad to have calm Pokémon like Gaia and Merlin.

"How are you feeling Gaia?" Ash asked.

Gaia looked up to Ash and nodded her head with a smile.

Ash smiled at that and continued to rub her head which caused Gaia to lean into his touch.

"You've come a long way from when we first met haven't you?" Ash said with a small smile.

Gaia nodded with a reminiscent look on her face.

"If you keep this training up there's no telling how strong you will get, nobody will want to mess with you." Ash said excitedly.

Gaia smiled and rubbed her head against Ash's leg in happiness.

I really can't wait to see all of your hard work come to fruition. You're so close to evolving, all it's going to take is one more little push!" Ash said with an excited smile.

At the sound of evolution Gaia's ears perked up and looked at Ash with a determined yet excited look in her eyes.

Ash matched her determined look with one of his own.

Ash opened his mouth to continue their conversation when he was interrupted abruptly.

Both Gaia and Ash turned around to see what that was.

They both shook their heads and back around once they saw what it was that interrupted their conversation.

They saw that it was only Dratini snoring without a care in the world.

"What will we do with him?" Ash asked out loud to nobody in particular.

'Put him in his pokéball.' Merlin replied unexpectedly.

Ash laughed aloud.

"You know he hates being in his ball." Ash said with as he slowly stopped laughing.

Merlin simply shrugged his shoulder and continued to meditate.

* * *

It's about midday and Ash was beginning to feel restless. He's already done research on all of his team and wrote down what he feels they need to work on, he's already wrote down all of their moves and if they need to be worked on, and he has also wrote down moves he wants them to learn.

Ash finally stood up and looked around the clearing.

'I should go check on everyone.' Ash said to himself.

Ash looked around and saw Merlin and decided to talk to him first.

Ash approached Merlin and before he could get out a word Merlin spoke.

'Yes Young Master?'

"You know you-" Ash started.

'I'm aware, I merely choose not to.' Merlin said cutting off Ash.

Ash simply rolled his eyes and sat down next to Merlin.

"Anyways, I originally came over to see how you're doing and to talk about where we will take your training and some of the moves I want you to learn soon." Ash started.

'I am well, I'd be better if I was not getting my meditation interrupted every five minutes.' Merlin answered.

"Was that sarcasm I hear?" Ash asked with a chuckle.

'Call it what you must.' Merlin replied.

Ash let out a small laugh.

"Anyways, after we finish up with Hypnosis we are going to work on Miracle Eye. I don't want to be stuck in a position where you are left helpless against a Pokémon just because you can't hit them. After that it will most likely be Shadow Ball. I want to add some diversity to your move set." Ash explained.

'That sounds optimal, I would like to be able to face off against against Dark and Ghost types without having to worry about being helpless.' Merlin responded.

"My thoughts exactly, I've also thought of a combo that will help you defense a great deal. The only problem is that we have to teach you them first, it's a three move combo of Barrier, Reflect, and Light Screen." Ash explained.

'That sounds good, it will be beneficial.' Merlin replied.

"That's why I want to have those moves learned before we take on Celadon City's Gym." Ash said.

'That should be enough time to learn them.' Merlin said.

The two then said nothing.

They stayed like that for a while before Ash said anything again.

"I'm proud of how far you've come bud. It seems like it was only yesterday that you were just an Abra and only knew Teleport. Now you're one of the strongest on the team." Ash said while reminiscing.

'I appreciate the praise, but it hasn't been that long since I evolved.' Merlin answered.

"Yeah, that's true but it's nice not having to let you sleep all the time. Speaking of sleep, when you meditate does that double as you sleeping or what?" Ash asked curiously.

'When I meditate it calms my mind and allows me to increase my mental capacity. While my meditation can double as sleep, while I am meditating I am also watching my surroundings as well so I will know if there is any danger around.' Merlin answered.

"Ah, that makes sense." Ash said.

The two continued to have small talk for a couple of minutes before Ash got up.

"It was nice talking with you Merlin." Ash said.

'It helps that I'm the only one who can actually respond.' Merlin replied.

Ash chuckled and rolled his eyes. Looks like he knows who the smartass of his team is.

Ash saw Growlithe who was lying down on a sunny patch and decided to talk to him next.

As Ash approaches Growlithe's ears stood up and his head soon followed after.

"Hey buddy!" Ash said as he sat down next to Growlithe. Growlithe scooted closer to Ash and put his massive head in Ash's lap. Ash took the hint and began to stroke his head which caused Growlithe's tail to wag happily.

"You know you're huge right?" Ash said jokingly.

Growlithe nodded his head with a goofy smile which made Ash scoot back and forwards slightly.

"So how do you like being on the team so far?" Ash asked.

Growlithe picked his head up and licked Ash's face once and smiled.

Ash laughed at being licked.

"That's as good of a response that I could've hoped for!" Ash said with a smile.

"So how do you feel like you're doing with Wild Charge?" Ash asked.

Growlithe tilines his head and put a frustrated look on his face.

"Not so good?" Ash asked.

Growlithe shook his head.

"I thought as much, that's why I'm going to have Ion teach you how to harness and draw out the electricity that you have. I doubt he would like it very much but we need it help you learn the move." Ash said.

Growlithe nodded his head. He had no problem with Ion, if anything he liked to play tag with him considering how quick he is.

"I'm glad you don't have a problem with it, now we just have to get Ion on board with it." Ash said.

Growlithe nodded and laid his head back down on Ash's lap.

"After you finish learning Wild Charge I think you should learn Dig, that will give you a lot more mobility." Ash said as he continued stroking Growlithe's head.

Growlithe nodded his head again causing the same thing to happen.

The two just sat there for a bit while Ash pet Growlithe's head. After a while, Ash finally stood up.

"Gotta check on the rest of the troops, I'll come back later okay!" Ash said as he began to walk towards Ion.

Growlithe gave an affirmative bark and laid back down.

Ash made his way towards Ion and saw him playing with wild Pokémon again. When he got closer the Wild Rattata saw him and ran off back into the woods.

"Hey Ion!" Ash said as he sat down.

Ion punched the air in front of him and got into a fighting pose.

"...I'm going to assume that's your way of greeting people." Ash said in a confused voice.

Ion nodded his head and sat down across from Ash.

"I'm very happy with the way that you've been training. All of your moves are strong and only need a bit of fine tuning before they are completely ready for battle." Ash said.

Ion smiled at the praise and sparks of electricity raced between the two prongs on top of his head.

"Once we get you to evolve then I can see you being a monster!" Ash said with a smile.

A gleam appeared in Zion's eyes at the mention of evolution, he couldn't wait to be taller than everyone and be a big bad Electivire.

"Ummm Ion?" Ash said as Ion was staring into space with starry eyes.

Ion snapped out of his stupor and pumped his chest with his fist.

"Well I'm glad that you are excited for the future. However I need you to do me a really big favor." Ash said.

Ion put a look of interest on his face.

"I need you to help Growlithe use electricity, we have been trying to get him to learn Wild Charge but he is having a problem harnessing the electricity properly. I figured that since your an electric type that you would know how to do it instinctively." Ash explained.

Ion shook his head furiously and crossed his arms. He refused to help that overgrown mutt.

Ash frowned initially but he had an idea and smirked briefly before putting a sad face on.

Ash turned to the side and began to "cry".

"All I want is for you two to get along! What kind of trainer can't get his own Pokémon to get along. I'm a failure of a trainer!" Ash said with crocodile tears.

Ion turned his head and looked at his trainer hesitantly. He walked to his trainer and put both of his hands on Ash's back and tried to comfort him.

"It's okay, maybe I'm not meant to be a trainer." Ash said slyly.

"Ele le kid Elekid!" Ion said frantically.

"Really? You mean you'll do it?" Ash said as he slowly turned around to face Ion.

Ion nodded his head and pounded his fist to his chest again. Even though he can't stand that damn mutt, if it's for his trainer then he would do it.

"Thank you Ion! I really appreciate it!" Ash said as he held out his fist for a fist bump.

Elekid whirred his arms and gave Ash a Thunder Punch as a fist punch.

Ash coughed out a cloud of smoke and his long hair stood up and had sparks of electricity running through it.

"Thanks." Ash said.

* * *

After Ash recovered from being electrocuted he looked for the rest of his team. He saw Gaia asleep by a tree not to far from where he was at but he decided to let her sleep.

He also saw Dratini sleeping by his sleeping bag. Ash smiled and walked over to him.

Ash crept up silently and stealthily until he was next to Dratini.

"WAKE UP!" Ash screamed as he slapped the ground right next to Dratini's head.

Dratini's eyes shot open and he opened his mouth and had Dragon Rage primed and ready to fire right at Ash.

Ash fell over and was too busy laughing his head off to notice the danger that he was in.

Once Dratini saw that it was Ash who woke him up he let Dragon Rage dissipate.

Dratini smacked Ash upside the head with his tail and curled up once again.

"Sorry bud, you've been asleep all day and I saw my opportunity to have a little fun." Ash said as he finally stopped laughing and rubbed the back of his head.

Dratini rolled his eyes and laid his head back.

Ash finally sat down next to Dratini and they sat there silently.

"We sure came a long way." Ash said while looking out at the rest of the team.

Dratini looked at Ash and nodded while cooing lightly.

"It wasn't that long ago that it was just you and me on Route 1. Then we met Merlin and you almost took my head off!" Ash said while chuckling.

Dratini rolled his eyes and put his head back down.

"I'm really happy about how you've handled the position of leader to everyone." Ash said proudly as he rubbed the top of his starters head.

Dratini smiled and leaned into Ash's touch.

They both looked out to look at the rest of the team. Everyone is so different in personalities and battle preferences but something they all have in common is that they all have a drive to be the absolute strongest.

* * *

It's the next day around noon and Ash is walking down a worn path along with Dratini and Ion. Ash decided that Dratini should start to slither instead of him carrying him so he could work on his stamina. He decided to have Ion out with him so he could bond with the baby pokémon more.

Ash looked down at his pokégear's map app and tilted his head.

"Guys, as much as I hate to admit it, I think we're lost." Ash said with a sweat drop.

Dratini and Ion both groaned and rolled their eyes.

Ash looked up and saw a house not to far from where they were at.

"Look, there's a house over there! We can ask the people who love there for directions to Vermillion City!" Ash said with a smile as he took off towards the house.

Ash and company ran towards the house and approached the front door.

Ash knocked politely three times and took a step back.

As the three of them waited Ash looked around and started to take in the house.

It was a red brick house with grey colored tile. It was clear due to some of the bricks in the house being chipped that was the house was an older house but it was also kept in good shape. There was a porch area that was covered with oak wood that was painted white. The porch had three chairs along with a small table that sat in the middle of them. Behind the three chairs was a window that currently blocked the view inside due to some curtains. Next to the door was an oil lamp.

As Ash finished observing the front porch area someone answered the door. Ash looked and was met with a very large man. The man was about 6'5 and with sandy colored flowing hair. The man also had a rough looking face that had a very distinctive scar that went down the side of his face but was partially covered due a very impressive beard that any man would be proud to have. The man was dressed in dark blue jeans and a tan shirt finished with a black belt and black tennis shoes.

"How can I help you?" The man asked in a rasp deep voice.

Ash was thrown back at the man, he wasn't expecting someone this huge would answer the door.

"H-Hi! I'm a trainer and I got a little lost. Do you know the way to Vermillion City?" Ash stuttered.

'Did I really just stutter?' Ash inwardly thought while mentally faceplanting.

"Of course I do!" The man said.

"Come on inside, I have mini maps just for wandering trainers like you who get lost!" The man said with a warm and trusting smile.

"Sure!" Said as he turned to Ion.

"Buddy I'm going to withdraw you for now, I promise as soon as we are back on the road I will release you alright?" Ash said.

Ion shrugged his shoulders and allowed himself to be returned. Ash held looked at Dratini and motioned him to cool around him. Dratini quickly could around Ash as he usually does.

Ash turned back to the man and nodded signally he was ready.

The man nodded and turned and walked into his house. Ash followed and was greeted with a very nice air conditioned room.

The room was painted a plain white color but was furnished by very clean black couches and a glass coffee table right in the middle.

The table was placed on an all black rug.

"This is a nice place you got sir." Ash said as he tried to make conversation.

"Why thank you! I try to keep it nice and clean." The man said as they walked further into the house.

"Wait here, I keep the maps in my office." The man said.

Ash nodded and watched the man walk down a hallway that he presumed where his office was located.

"You know now that I think about it all we had to do was show him my pokégear and we could've been on our way." Ash said to Dratini.

Dratini nodded and laid his head down on Ash's shoulder.

The two waited for a minute before the man came back out of the hallway.

"Alright, here it is." The man said as he walked up to Ash and Dratini.

"We are right here." The man said as he pointed a little south of the abandoned power plant.

"From here you can continue going south until you reach Lavender Town. Once you get to Lavender Town you can either go west and go to Saffron City then go south until you get to Vermillion or continue going south until you hit the docks. From the docks you head west and you will run right into Vermillion. It really depends on how much of a rush you are to get there." The man explained.

Ash followed the man's direction on the map.

"Ah okay, I'm not sure which direction I want to go yet but I'm sure I'll know by the time I hit Lavender Town." Ash said as the man handed him the map.

"It should only take about another day to reach Lavender Town by foot." The man said with a small smile.

"Alright, thank you so much for your help!" Ash said as he began to make his way out of the house.

"It's no problem young man! Have a safe journey!" The man said with a smile once again as he watched Ash leave.

* * *

After Ash and Dratini left the man's house he released Ion as he had promised and continued on the path they were on to Lavender Town.

"We got lucky that the man gave us directions, we would've wandered around for a while before we ran into Lavender Town." Ash said.

Dratini shook his head. Ash might be a good person and a great trainer to himself and his fellow teammates, but he is terrible at directions unless it is clear cut.

"Well at least we know where we are going now!" Ash said cheerily as they continued down the path.

They all walked in silence for a while until they heard a loud screech not too far from where they were.

They all paused instantly and turned in the direction that the screech came from. Ash instantly put on a face of determination. If a Pokémon needs help he will try his best to help them no matter the cost.

Ash turned to Ion.

"Let's go!" Ash said as he ran towards where the sound came from.

The trio began to run through the forest area and were ducking and dodging through trees. They ran for about two minutes or so before they heard the screech again.

They ran until they came upon another dirt road. There was a black cargo van that was parked and had the back open. What Ash saw caused his stomach to turn in flips.

There were cages upon cages full of Pokémon inside the back of the van. All of the cages seemed too small for all of the Pokémon causing them to be in extreme discomfort. There were cages of Pokémon trying to get to their child that they were separated from and the same vice versa.

There were currently two men wearing green and black camouflage pants and shirt. Both men had on black boots and they both sported a black leather belts that had six pokéballs each and had a bunch of different devices that was beyond Ash's knowledge. The two men were busy recklessly throwing the cages into the back of the van without a single care for the Pokémon's well-being.

The feeling of anger that began to course through Ash's veins was a new feeling to Ash. He had been angry before but never like this.

Little did Ash know was that Dratini was just as angry as his eyes were bloodshot red.

Ash felt a pokéball on his belt jiggle like mad until the pokémon inside was released.

The temperature in the immediate area began to increase. It wasn't sweltering heat but it was enough to cause a light sweat. Growlithe appeared next to Ash and had a very menacing look on his face. Just the sight of Pokémon in cages gave Growlithe flashbacks and get remarkably angry.

Ion looked at the caged pokémon and the men loading them into the van with a very confused look on his face.

"Ele kid kid Elekid?" Ion asked.

Ash crouched down next to Ion very quietly while keeping an anger filled glare at the men loading the van.

"Those people are pokémon poachers, they steal and separate Pokémon from their families to sell for money." Ash said with icy voice. Ion's face twisted into a look of anger and disgust as he looked at the caged Pokémon once again.

Ash had an idea, he pulled out his pokénav and switched to the camera function. He made sure the sound was off so he didn't get caught taking pictures and began to take multiple pictures of the two men loading the cages into the van.

After Ash finished taking the pictures he put his pokénav away. Normally he would call the league and inform them of this but under the circumstances that he was currently in he was unable to without the men hearing him.

Ash grit his teeth, he knew he couldn't challenge them to a fight because they had him outnumbered considering they both have six Pokémon on them. His five Pokémon would quickly be overwhelmed by the twelve Pokémon in no time.

Growlithe began to growl and took a step forward.

Ash turned to Growlithe.

"No, you can't go out there right now. They both have six Pokémon and they would our number us. Not only that we don't know how strong their pokémon are. If we are going to attack them then we need a plan." Ash said very quietly while attempting to stop Growlithe.

Thankfully Growlithe listened despite his anger.

"Thank you, now I think I have a plan. Since they are loading the Pokémon into a van there is a good chance that they are going to be driving somewhere to drop them off. So if we follow them we can not only free them but we can also free any other Pokémon that they have captured." Ash said while coming up with that plan on the spot.

Dratini, Growlithe, and Ion all nodded their head. They hate to see Pokémon in cages like this so any chance they can get to free some pokémon, they will take it without hesitation.

"Alright, now we just have to wait for them to leave." Ash said while watching the men finish loading up the back of the van.

"That's the last of them. Let's close up and head back to base." One of the men said.

"Don't tell me what to do you stupid meathead." The other man shot back.

"Shut up and get in the car." The man said as he got in the driver's seat and started the van.

The other man rolled his eyes and got inside of the van.

As soon as the men got into the car they drove off.

"Alright, Growlithe I need you to hurry and catch their scent so we can track them." Ash said quickly.

Growlithe jumped into action and dashed out of the bushes and began to sniff around before catching on to the scent of the two men.

Once he had the scent he nodded to Ash signaling that he had it.

Ash nodded and came out of the bushes along with Dratini and Ion.

"Let's go get them!" Ash said as he looked in the direction the men drove off.

Everyone nodded as Growlithe walked out towards the front ready to lead the charge.

"Wait!" Ash said before they began their trek.

Ash turned to Ion.

"Buddy I'm going to return you for now, we don't know how far they might be going from here and I don't want you to get tired from the journey there. Once we get there and it's time for battle then I will send you back out." Ash said in a serious voice.

Ion nodded. He yawned and allowed himself to be returned. Even though Ion is rough and likes to fight a lot, he is still a baby pokémon and needs some rest. He would be tired if he ran the whole way there.

After Ion was returned Ash turned back to the rest of the group.

"Let's go!" Ash said with a very determined look in his eye.

Everyone nodded and Growlithe began to lead the way. Growlithe started off with light jog which was pretty much a full sprint for Ash. Dratini was a tad bit behind Growlithe but he was keeping up nonetheless. Luckily Ash was in good shape so he was able to stay somewhat close to Growlithe. However, this didn't last long. After about ten minutes Growlithe and Dratini turned to see if Ash was still behind him, he was shocked to see that Ash was very far behind him and was in a tripod position. Ash was desperately gasping for air.

Growlithe and Dratini decided to turn around and go back for their trainer.

When they got to Ash he was still trying to catch his breath.

"How- *gasp* far- *gasp* is- *gasp* this- *gasp* place?" Ash said clearly deprived of oxygen.

Growlithe walked behind Ash and put his head between Ash's legs and lifted him up effectively putting Ash on his back.

Ash was taken aback by this and looked at Growlithe in surprise.

'Why didn't I think of this?' Ash thought to himself.

Ash adjusted himself and after a second he was somewhat comfortable.

"How do you feel buddy?" Ash said as he finally caught his breath.

Growlithe barked an affirmative and nodded his head.

Ash grinned and nodded back. Ash looked at Dratini who was still on the ground.

"Come up here." Ash said as he heals his hand out for Dratini to slither up.

Dratini nodded and jumped up and slithered around Ash.

Growlithe easily adjusted to the extra weight and nodded to Ash, signaling that he was ready.

"Alright, lets go get those bastards!" Ash said as he placed his hands at the base of Growlithe's neck for balance as Growlithe took off running.

As Growlithe ran, air rushed through Ash's hair causing his long hair to flow in the wind.

'Once he gets bigger he'll only get faster.' Ash thought to himself.

Growlithe continued to track the scent for another ten minutes and they eventually began to go off road.

Growlithe began to run through the trees with slight difficulty due to Ash being on his back.

After another minute or two Ash saw the van.

"Hold on bud." Ash said as he pointed to the van.

Growlithe slowed down and eventually stopped running. Ash got down and rubbed Growlithe's head.

"Thank you Growlithe, you did a great job! I'll make sure to throw some extra food in your bowl tonight" Ash said sincerely.

Growlithe's eyes widened at the sound of extra food and he licked Ash's face in excitement.

Ash laughed at Growlithe's show of affection but quickly became serious again.

Ash released the rest of his team.

Everyone materialized and Gaia and Merlin looked around confused and began to talk to each other.

"Shhh!" Ash shushed quickly.

"We found some poachers and followed them here, they are somewhere in that building." Ash said as he pointed to a larger building that resembled an abandoned factory.

Gaia and Merlin nodded their heads and narrowed eyes.

Ash turned towards the building and looked around. He counted three other vans like the one he saw previously.

"There are clearly a lot of Pokémon in there since there are that many vans." Ash said quietly.

Ash pulled out his pokenav and took pictures of the vans and the building and put the pokenav back in his pocket.

Suddenly a thought ran across his mind.

'Didn't Lance say that if I run into Team Rocket that I should call the league?' Ash thought to himself.

Ash pulled out his pokenav and typed in the league's number.

A man answered the phone.

"This is the Pokémon League's headquarters. How may I help you?" The man answered.

"I would like to report suspicious activity. I saw a van pull up to an abandoned building with some Pokémon in cages." Ash quickly explained.

The man was quiet but Ash could hear typing on the other end.

"Are you sure that is what you saw?" The man asked.

"Yes I am." Ash said as he rolled his eyes. They never initially believe him.

"Okay sir what is you're location?" The man asked.

"I'm not sure, let me check." Ash said as he checked his map and sent the man his coordinates.

"We got them. Unfortunately you are in a location that will take us a while to get to due to it being in a secluded place. The league is sending agents to you right now. Please stay where you are and do not go into the building." The man said as he hung up.

Ash put the pokenav back into his pocket.

"Alright guys are you ready to go inside?" Ash asked quietly.

They all nodded their heads. There was a determined look in each of their eyes.

"Alright, lets go."

* * *

 **That's the chapter! I'm sorry it took so long to come out but I had a lot of trouble with this chapter. It may take some time to come out with the chapters but I promise I won't abandon this story. I really wanted to try and add some personality to everyone on the team and show some interactions between them. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Until next time please make sure to favorite, follow, and review.**


	11. Not a chapter

As you guys can see this clearly isn't a new chapter. I just wanted to let you guys know that I opened a poll regarding whether Ash gets a new Pokémon in the near future. The next chapter should be up relatively soon.


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